A New York jury delivered a guilty verdict on Nov. 4 against former New York police officer Michael Valva for killing his 8-year-old son after a family court judge had stripped his ex-wife—the boy’s mother—of custody for raising allegations of abuse against his father.
The verdict followed a four-week trial in which details of Tommy Valva’s death included severe punishments exacted by Valva against his autistic young son, including the fatal night he made Tommy and his 10-year old brother sleep on the cement floor of an unheated garage at the home where Valva lived with his then fiancee, Angela Polina. Polina has also been charged with Tommy’s murder and will face her own trial.
