A Gwinnett County mother accused of leaving her infant son in a hot car while she worked is out of jail, over prosecutors’ objections that she remains a danger to her two surviving children.
Deja Coleman, 29, is charged with second-degree murder and cruelty to children in the July 29 death of her son, Daniel. A coworker found the 16-month-old in her back seat outside the Lawrenceville hospital where she worked, according to arrest warrants.
Superior Court Judge Tamela L. Adkins set a $5,000 bond Wednesday and placed Coleman on house arrest with ankle monitoring, court records show.
“I have yet to talk to anybody that has said Deja has been anything but a wonderful, devoted mother,” said Trinity Hundredmark, who took over the case with Matt Acuff a week before the hearing.
Prosecutors wanted her held and away from her children.
“She is a danger to the community, particularly her children, and a risk of intimidating witnesses, particularly her children,” said Megan Matteucci, the assistant district attorney.
A daycare worker asked about Daniel that morning and Coleman said he was coming in a minute, Matteucci told the judge. Paramedics estimated the car topped 130 degrees.
“We do disagree with some of the state’s characterization of her from today,” Acuff said.
Her previous attorney, Tom Ford, argued the death was an accident brought on by what he called medical grade sleep deprivation.
Adkins found what she heard Wednesday fell short of witness intimidation. Her order lets Coleman keep seeing her children but bars her from driving them.
Jesse Hardy, a pastor who has known Coleman about three years, said the ruling matters most to her 6-year-old son, who is autistic.
“He’s been without life pretty much for the last two months just about because his mom is all that he knows,” Hardy said.
Coleman was living at a transitional housing program for homeless families when Daniel died, and the judge ordered her back there.
