RIVERHEAD, N.Y. (WCBS 880) — The former NYPD officer and his ex-fiancée accused in the death of the officer's 8-year-old son, Thomas Valva, may have their trial delayed until 2022.
Michael Valva, and his former fiancée Angela Pollina, will have their trials at the same time. However, there will be two separate juries.
The two will face a number of charges, including second-degree murder and endangering the welfare of a child – to which they have already pleaded not guilty.
Though, the start date for the trial remains unknown.
Defense attorneys for both Valva and Pollina told the judge to postpone the trial to at least January 2022, if not later, because of COVID-19 concerns.
Valva’s lawyer, Anthony la Pinta, told WCBS 880 that if the trial was to start now, and a juror was to test positive for COVID-19, that person could easily spread it to the other 31 jurors, and the trial would need to be suspended.
“We want an exchange with potential jurors face to face. We don't want them being behind masks. We want these jurors to be in eye distance of us are and for us to see all these jurors in response to questions that we ask,” the attorney said.
Valva is accused of leaving his 8-year-old son in a freezing cold garage overnight when the temperature was just 19 degrees.
The child died from hypothermia. Authorities said his body temperature was 76 degrees when he was found.
It’s believed Pollina also played a role in the alleged abuse of the boy and his two younger brothers.
The boy’s mother, Justyna Zubko-Valva, filed a $200 million lawsuit against Child Protective Services, the Center Moriches school district and others, who she said ignored the abuse and neglect and left her son with his father.
Zubko-Valva’s attorney previously told WCBS 880 that the lawsuit is also for her two other sons, who were allegedly abused for years at the hands of their father and his former fiancée.