GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — A mother charged in her 17-month-old son’s hot car death will leave jail Saturday to bury him, under an order signed Friday by a Superior Court judge.
Deja Coleman, 29, will be driven to and from the service by sheriff’s deputies and will stay in their custody the entire time.
Her attorney, Tom Ford, said she has not had a private moment with her grief since the day she was booked.
“She’s not had the opportunity yet to cry for her child,” Ford said. “She’s going to have the opportunity Saturday.”
Daniel Coleman Jr. was teething the night of July 28, and his mother had been up with him most of that night, according to Ford. The family was living in a domestic violence shelter at the time, Ford said.
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Lawrenceville police say she dropped her two older children at daycare the next morning, drove to her job at a hospital and forgot the toddler in the back seat for about nine hours on July 29.
A coworker parked alongside her car found the child that afternoon.
Detectives charged Coleman with second degree murder and second degree cruelty to children that same day.
Ford said prosecutors made up their minds before they read three decades of research on how memory fails.
“If you’re going to charge a woman for an accidental death of her precious son, you can’t just put your fingers in your ears,” Ford said.
The furlough request came from the state. Prosecutors wrote in their emergency motion that they “verbally agreed to consent to a funeral furlough” the day after the arrest and that the defense never sent back a signed order.
Ford disputes that account and said prosecutors only moved after he took the case public.
Nobody knows yet how Saturday will look. The order leaves it up to the Gwinnett County Sheriff’s Office, down to how many deputies go with her and whether she wears handcuffs.
“I’ve asked that she be allowed to mourn inside the church with family, not cuffed,” Ford said. “I don’t know to what extent the officer is going to accommodate my request.”
Coleman is being held without bond at the Gwinnett County Jail. A bond hearing is set for Sept. 9.
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