LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. (Court TV) — Attorneys for a mother accused of killing her 16-month-old son by leaving him in a hot car said that the incident was “tragic” but not intentional at a bond hearing on Wednesday.
Deja Coleman appears at a bond hearing on Sept. 9, 2026. (Court TV)
Deja Coleman, 29, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree murder and cruelty to children after her son, Daniel Jr., was found dead in her car while she was at work. She appeared in court with her attorneys, asking for bond so she could continue caring for her two other children, ages 4 and 6; the older child has special needs and is nonverbal.
Prosecutor Megan Mateucci outlined the case against Coleman in court, saying that on July 29, 2026, the defendant drove to the daycare Daniel Jr. and his two siblings attended daily. The two older children walked into the daycare while Coleman followed, holding the diaper bag, but the 16-month-old was allegedly left behind in the car. Once inside, as Coleman put her older kids’ lunchboxes away, Mateucci said an employee asked her where the baby was. The defendant allegedly replied she would bring him in just a minute. “She’s reminded right there, by that daycare worker, about the baby,” Mateucci said.
Investigators say the child was never brought inside. Instead, Coleman allegedly got back into the car and drove to Northside Hospital, where she worked as a certified nursing assistant (CNA). Mateucci said that while Coleman was dropping off her older children, driving to work and forgetting about her youngest child, she was on FaceTime.
An employee going to their own car noticed the child in Coleman’s backseat after approximately eight hours. The child, wearing sweatpants and covered with a blanket, was already dead. When the medical examiner arrived 30 minutes after the vehicle’s doors were opened, the temperature inside was 117 degrees. Paramedics estimated the temperature inside the car rose to 130 degrees before emergency crews arrived.
Mateucci said that Coleman had multiple opportunities to remember her child, but failed to do so. “The evidence is not that this was an intentional killing,” Mateucci said Wednesday. “The evidence is that this was a negligent act and that her recklessness, her negligence, caused the death of this kid.”
“Unfortunately, Judge, there was a tragic incident that happened at a moment that [Coleman] lacked some support,” defense attorney Trinity Hundredmark said at the hearing. “She was a domestic violence survivor who left an abusive relationship to protect her children. So, Judge, if anything, all signs point to Ms. Coleman as a protector of her children and not a harm to her children. Unfortunately, this tragedy happened, but it was not violent and it was not intentional.”
Mateucci tried to introduce evidence that Coleman had been speaking to at least five men on the day of her son’s death and six men on jail calls, including one who may be her boyfriend. “In those communications, as recently as 10 days after the child’s death — and I hate to be inappropriate and bring this up,” Mateucci said, “she’s having phone sex in the jail calls. She’s having rough sex, asking for it in text messages and phone calls as recently as August 7.”
Hundredmark accused Mateucci of trying to exploit an “opportunity in front of the news to try and assassinate our client’s character,” before Judge Tamela Adkins ruled the evidence was inadmissible at the bond hearing.
Adkins said she did not believe Coleman was a flight risk or a risk to the community, and she granted the defendant a $5,000 bond. If she is released, Coleman will be on house arrest and must wear a GPS monitor. She may contact her children, but she cannot discuss the case with them or any other witnesses.
