Mother leaves toddler in hot car as she works

Thumbs up from mother charged with murders

LAWRENCEVILLE — A woman charged with killing four of her young children and her husband smiled and flashed a double thumbs up to news cameras during her first court appearance Friday in metro Atlanta before telling a judge she doesn’t want an attorney.

Also, an immigration official said the woman, who is from Mexico, entered the U.S. illegally.

Isabel Martinez, 33, appeared before Gwinnett County Magistrate Court Judge Michael Thorpe a day after police said she stabbed the five to death and seriously injured another child at her home. The surviving 9-year-old girl remained hospitalized with serious injuries.

Before the hearing began, Martinez sat with other inmates and posed for cameras — smiling, giving the thumbs up, putting her hands in a prayer position and spreading her arms out wide.

As Thorpe listed the charges — five counts of malice murder, five counts of murder and six counts of aggravated assault — Martinez smiled, shook her head “no” and wagged her finger at him.

“Ma’am, I’m going to caution you to cut out the display for the cameras,” he said. “It’s really not a good idea, probably not to your benefit.”

When Thorpe said she had a right to an attorney, she replied through a Spanish-language interpreter that she doesn’t want one. She later added that her attorney will always be the people “that we’re fighting for” and her faith.

“You are the hope of the world, each one of you,” she said in Spanish, appearing to address the news cameras. “It doesn’t matter what color you are because God loves us all.”

KENNESAW — A 22-yearold woman faces child cruelty charges after she left her 16-month-old daughter inside a hot car parked at a mall where she worked.

Cobb County Police say Dao Truc Le, of Smyrna, was arrested on a charge of cruelty to a child firstdegree. Bond information and whether the woman has an attorney were not immediately available.

Investigators say mall security found the little girl Wednesday buckled in a car seat inside a vehicle at Town Center Mall. Police say the vehicle was not running, and all the windows were rolled up. Authorities say the child’s clothing was saturated by sweat.

Police believe the child had been inside the car for about 2½ hours before she was found.