LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (Court TV) — A woman accused of killing her 1-year-old son by forgetting him in a hot car sat silently in court on Tuesday as her attorney pleaded with prosecutors to amend the charges she’s facing.
Deja Coleman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to children after her child was found in the back seat of her car at Northside Gwinnett Hospital. Coleman allegedly told officers that she had gone to work at 6:55 a.m.; the child was first found in the car at 3:50 p.m.
Deja Coleman appears in court on Aug. 11, 2026. (Court TV)
When a passerby saw the child in the car, they immediately called the police. Officers broke a window to pull the child out but were unable to revive him.
At a news conference announcing the charges, Lawrenceville Police Department Sgt. Dena Pauly said that Coleman was “devastated” when officers told her what had happened. The defendant allegedly said in an interview with police that she brought her other two children to daycare, but simply forgot about the 1-year-old before heading to work at the hospital.
Prosecutors arrived at Tuesday’s scheduled preliminary hearing with a witness ready to testify, but Coleman’s defense attorney, Tom Ford, pivoted, pleading instead for his client to be able to attend her son’s funeral, scheduled for Saturday.
“I don’t have any authority to grant bond,” the judge said. Ford said his plea wasn’t aimed at her, but at prosecutors. “If the state was gracious enough to allow a dismissal of second-degree murder,” Ford said, he would waive his client’s right to a preliminary hearing on voluntary manslaughter charges. With that lesser charge, “this court could set a bond,” he said. “She could attend her funeral but escorted by deputies. We could indict the next day for murder two.”
“All of this is inappropriate for the cameras,” prosecutors said, as they declined to entertain the offer.
“So we waive the entire prelim,” Ford said.
Under Georgia law, defendants are not entitled to present an affirmative defense at a preliminary hearing; they are limited to cross-examining prosecution witnesses. “If I can’t have a scientist testify,” Ford explained, he did not want to have the hearing. “This event, which has plagued our country for some time, can only be explained through science.”
In an interview with WANF, Ford said that Coleman was sleep-deprived when she forgot her child because she was caring for three children while living in a protective shelter after leaving an abusive relationship.
Ford confirmed to the judge that he had filed a motion to modify bond to get his client out of jail; no hearing has been scheduled on the issue.
