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

Court filings earlier this week revealed Smith had submitted a two-volume report to Garland on Jan. 7, just days after attorneys for Trump and his codefendants reviewed a draft report. —Robert Legare, CBS News, 11 Jan. 2025

The rest of the charges were dismissed as part of the agreement, with the plea contingent on all Bateman's codefendants also pleading guilty. —Joseph Epstein, Newsweek, 10 Dec. 2024

Flashback: Williams and 27 other codefendants were originally charged in a 65-count indictment in May 2022. —Kristal Dixon, Axios, 3 Dec. 2024

Trump and several codefendants, who have pleaded not guilty, have sought to disqualify Willis from the case. —Jason Fields, Newsweek, 5 Dec. 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