codefendant

noun

co·​de·​fen·​dant ˌkō-di-ˈfen-dənt 

 in legal circles often  -ˌdant

variants or co-defendant

plural codefendants or co-defendants

: a defendant in the same lawsuit or criminal prosecution as another defendant or group of defendants : a joint defendant

… the defendant argued that it was plain error for the trial court to have permitted the prosecution to treat his co-defendant as hostile …

—State v. Saenz, 370 P.3d 1278 (2016)

Examples of codefendant in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Three codefendants in the YSL racketeering trial have accepted plea agreements this week from the Fulton County District Attorney’s Office. —Nick Valencia, CNN, 31 Oct. 2024

Four codefendants have since pleaded guilty after cutting deals with prosecutors, while Trump and the remaining codefendants have all pleaded not guilty. —Nina Turner, Newsweek, 29 Oct. 2024

The other codefendant, Jarvis Masters, is at the Sierra Conservation Center in Tuolumne County. —Marin Independent Journal, The Mercury News, 16 Oct. 2024

In Owens’, the codefendant swore in an affidavit that Owens was not present for the 1997 robbery murder. —Brian Stull, TIME, 27 Sep. 2024

Word History

First Known Use

1641, in the meaning defined above

Legal Definition

codefendant

noun

co·​de·​fen·​dant

ˌkō-di-ˈfen-dənt, -ˌdant

: a joint defendant