A jury found former NYPD officer Michael Valva guilty of second-degree murder in the death of his 8-year-old autistic son Thomas.

The jury reached its unanimous verdict after about seven hours of deliberations.

During the five-week trial, prosecutors presented gut-wrenching evidence and testimony from witnesses to show Valva had physically and verbally abused two of his sons for years before Jan. 17, 2020. On that day, Thomas went into cardiac arrest at his home in Center Moriches and died from hypothermia.

In the months leading up to his death, prosecutors say Thomas endured heinous abuse, including starvation, beatings and banishment to an ice-cold garage.

“What happened in the courtroom does not change the unbelievable tragedy of this case. But thanks in large part to the great work of the DA's office and our police department working together, we can give Thomas and Anthony Valva a small, small measure of justice,” said Suffolk County District Attorney Ray Tierney.

Valva's defense team had asked jurors to consider lesser homicide and manslaughter charges, saying Valva did not want his son to die and tried to save his life.

Valva faces a maximum sentence of 25 years to life in prison for the second-degree murder conviction.

He was also convicted of four counts of endangering the welfare of a child for starving and beating Thomas and his brother Anthony.

The Safe Center, a nonprofit victim service center in Nassau County, responded to the verdict in a statement:

“This verdict is justice for Thomas and a critical step in the healing process. However, this verdict does not make other children safer from abuse, and it is possible that the next Thomas is out there somewhere. It is imperative that we continue to work to change the system of how we address alleged abuses early, ensure the safety of children.”

Valva's ex-fiancée Angela Polina is expected to stand trial for her alleged role in Thomas' murder. Tierney said Pollina could stand trial as early as next month.

When Pollina's trial is over, Tierney said he's plans to call for a grand jury probe of Suffolk's Child Protection Services. The Valva case cast a harsh light on Suffolk's CPS as Thomas's principal and teachers testified they had made dozens of calls to the agency for help in the three years leading up to Thomas's murder.

"In the instance of Thomas and Anthony, there was no action taken. So we have to make sure, take those lessons learned and come up with a procedure to make sure that we are looking for these signs, so in the future something like this won't happen again," Tierney said.

Crime Victims Center advocate Laura Ahearn said a new state central registry reform law passed in 2020. It makes it harder for CPS workers to report child abuse by raising the standard of evidence of mistreatment.

"With this change in law there has to be a concurrent change where CPS is given much more resources," Ahearn said. "More training, more personnel and the state needs to monitor and report to us in the community what the impact on that law has been."

Advocates at the Safe Center say Suffolk's response to child abuse cases could be strengthened by having its team of investigators and support services working in a centralized office, as the Safe Center does in Bethpage.

"Having that co-located response allows us to develop better protocols together, work it through as a team, get to know each other, knowing who's available for what as opposed to have anyone assigned the case responding and having to figure it out on the fly," said the Safe Center's Debra Lyons.