Attorney seeks lower charges for mother accused of leaving baby in hot car

Police say the one-year-old was left in the back of the car for nine hours as she worked a shift as a nursing assistant at a hospital.

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GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A Gwinnett County mother, charged in the death of her one-year-old son, will face a judge on Tuesday afternoon.

She’s accused of leaving the baby in a hot car for nine hours.

Her attorney wants the charges dropped and is pushing the DA to at least call for a lesser charge, saying the incident was unintentional and that she was sleep-deprived.

Tuesday’s preliminary hearing is where prosecutors will lay out their case against Deja Coleman.

The 29-year-old mother is charged with 2nd degree murder in the hot car death of her son, whom the family calls Carter.

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Police say the one-year-old was left in the back of Coleman’s car for nine hours as she worked a shift as a nursing assistant at the hospital.

Tom Ford, her defense attorney, said she cared for two other older children and was up all night as the baby was teething and severely lacking sleep.

“There’s not any other reason other than being tired. We don’t lock people up because they’re tired,” Ford said.

Coleman’s preliminary hearing starts at 1:30 p.m. We’ll be there in the courtroom