Mother charged in son’s hot car death could get jail furlough to attend funeral
Deja Coleman, the mother charged with second-degree murder in her 1-year-old son’s hot car death, may be able to attend his funeral Saturday after an emergency filing from the state, court documents show.
The Gwinnett County District Attorney’s Office on Thursday filed an emergency motion for furlough to allow Coleman to be transported from the Gwinnett jail to the child’s funeral and then back to the detention center. A Superior Court judge must still sign the motion.
The 29-year-old mother’s son, Daniel Coleman, died July 29 after she forgot to drop him off at daycare and left him in the back seat of her car for about nine hours while she worked at a Gwinnett County hospital, officials allege.
The proposed funeral furlough is the latest legal wrangling in the case.
Coleman, whose last name also appears as Simpson on certain documents, appeared in court Tuesday for a preliminary hearing. Her attorney, Tom Ford, tried to strike a deal with the state to dismiss her second-degree murder charge. Coleman also faces a charge of second-degree cruelty to children.
“If the state was gracious enough to allow for a dismissal of second-degree murder ... this court could set a bond. She could attend her funeral unescorted by deputies,” Ford told the court then.
Gwinnett prosecutor Megan Matteucci objected, telling the court the request amounted to a bond argument and should not be part of Tuesday’s proceedings. A magistrate court judge cannot set bond for a charge of murder, something Chief Magistrate Judge Kristina Hammer Blum reminded the defense and prosecution.
Ford then chose instead to waive Coleman’s preliminary hearing, a move that sent the case to Superior Court and prevented prosecutors from presenting probable cause evidence.
On Monday afternoon, Ford filed a motion for bond in Superior Court in hopes a hearing would be scheduled ahead of this weekend’s funeral. That hearing is now scheduled for later, on Sept. 9.
The prosecution’s emergency motion comes amid what the state described as ongoing discussions with Coleman’s attorney about the issue and what steps should be taken.
In its Thursday motion, the state wrote that it met with Ford on July 31 and “verbally agreed to consent to a funeral furlough” and “told defense counsel to submit a consent order for the Defendant to attend the funeral in the custody of the Sheriff.”
The state wrote that Ford “never sent an order nor filed a motion” for Coleman to attend Saturday. According to an obituary, Daniel’s funeral will take place at 1 p.m. at Hollifield Mortuary in Atlanta. It is not open to the public, Ford said.
After Tuesday preliminary hearing, the state wrote in the emergency motion that it “again contacted defense counsel and agreed to consent to a furlough..., requesting defense counsel send a consent order.”
“After no response from the Defense, the State sent a consent order to defense counsel on Aug. 12, 2026 requesting defense to sign” for Coleman to attend the funeral while still in custody, according to the motion.
The state said that by Thursday, Ford had not filed a motion for furlough for Coleman, nor had he signed the consent order the state sent him.
Ford told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Thursday he wants Coleman to be allowed to wear her own clothing to the funeral rather than a jail uniform, a detail not addressed in the state’s emergency motion. He said the court has the authority to tell the sheriff’s office to allow it.
“I want my client dressed like every other loving, grieving mother whose 17-month-old died two weeks ago should be dressed, which is not in a prison garb, green polyester jumpsuit,” he said.
Ford declined to comment on other aspects of the prosecutor’s motion. The AJC has reached out to the district attorney’s office for comment.
Both Ford and police have said the mother had a routine before work. She would first drop off her 6-year-old and 4-year-old at daycare; the oldest needs extra attention because of an autism diagnosis, they have said. Then she would return to her car to bring the baby into the daycare, Ford previously told the AJC.
Ford has repeatedly described what happened that late July day, when the baby was left in the vehicle, as an accident.
“It is a mistake. Because you have a dead child does not make it a crime,” he told reporters following Tuesday’s hearing.
Daniel was left in Coleman’s vehicle outside Northside Hospital Gwinnett from around 6:55 a.m. to 3:55 p.m., when police got into the car and found him dead in his car seat, according to investigators. The mother worked as a certified nursing assistant at the hospital, according to Ford.
The temperature inside the car was 117 degrees an hour after a window had been broken and the child was removed, Lawrenceville police previously said.