Domestic Violence Leads to Child’s Death

A terrible event happened in New York State. A mother who was getting divorced and was in the middle of the custody battle for her children, complained to the court and Child Protection Services that the father of the children turned to violence against them on several occasions. Her story was not believed, and the custody over the children was awarded to the father. This happened in September 2017. In January 2020 one of the children, 8 y.o. boy Thomas Valva, died from hypothermia in the garage where his father and his new girlfriend sent him for overnight time-out for misbehavior.

Background:

In December 2015, Thomas’s father, Michael Valva, initiated divorce with Thomas’s mother, Justina Zubko-Valva.

During the divorce and custody proceeding, the court ruled that both parents needed to undergo an evaluation by a forensic psychologist.

On December 15, 2016 the father had the interview with psychologist, appointed by court. However the mother refused to conduct any interviews with the court-appointed psychologist, because she was unable to videotape the proceedings. “The psychologist did not allow the evaluation to be video recorded”, – Zubko-Valva said.

After she refused to complete the psychological evaluation, on September 6, 2017 Justina lost custody over her three children; the children went to live with their father. The judge Hope Schwarz Zimmermann, making this order, told to the father: "You have a big job to do, sir".

Later on two other judges considered disputes between parents and supported the father as well.

An online petition circulating on the Internet, says:

We, the outraged and appalled community, hold Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman fully responsible for the death of little Thomas Valva. This petition is requesting that her license is fully and indefinitely revoked. We, the community don't want to see her rule another child to an abusive parent.

Ruling these children to Michael Valva with mounting evidence presented to her by Thomas' biological mother Justyna Valva about his abusive behavior was not only irresponsible but Judge Zimmerman signed a direct death sentence for Thomas Valva and the rest of the children in his, fully being aware that these kids were starved and continuously abused by their father.

Judge Zimmerman has failed Thomas Valva, she failed all of us hard working single mothers/parents who work two and three jobs to make ends meet to be able to provide for our children.

We don't want her failing another innocent child. Please have Judge Hope Schwartz Zimmerman' license revoked and have all her cases further investigated”.

While I am not aware of all the intricacies of this case, I would still dare offer an explanation for the judge’s decision. The answer to this question, in fact, can be found in court transcripts, which were not understood by mother and led to her losing the custody battle.

“There's certain things that have to be done in terms of preparing this case for trial and getting the children organized and until that happens I can't have the trial. So I'm awarding temporary, temporary custody of the children to the father”, – Judge Zimmerman said.

The fact that the judge awarded only temporary custody to the father meant that the judge could not make the final decision at that time, and allowed the mother to remedy the situation and complete the evaluation by a forensic psychologist. But the mother was adamant. When the evaluation by a forensic psychologist establishes that one of the parents is in good shape, and the other parent fails to show up, it is very easy to predict the obvious outcome of the case. And so it happened.

Death of a child is a terrible tragedy, but could the judge be blamed for this? For my professional opinion, it is not judge’s fault. Civil litigation does not allow for forced evaluation. Both parties must present their evidence to the court to prove their view on the circumstances of the case in support of their claim or objections. The burden of proof in such cases is split evenly between the plaintiff and the defendant. Court requirements are obligatory for both parties, and neither of them may set their own arbitrary conditions, such as “I want to have the expert evaluation videotaped”. This would not be allowed in any country of the world. When one of the parties refuses to undergo an expert evaluation only one outcome is possible, and it is that the court takes the side of the other party.

Take care of your children. Fight for your children. Protect your interests in court, and never allow yourself to ignore the law. Any violations of the prescribed order may lead to fatal consequences.

The father of the child and his girlfriend have been accused of second degree murder. The investigation is on-going. The couple will likely face a long prison sentence. Unfortunately, though, this will not bring back the child.