noun
- a person who is being sued or charged with a crime along with one or more other defendants in the same legal case
Usage: legal
Examples
- The prosecutor questioned each codefendant separately.
- Smith and his codefendant were both charged with fraud.
- The jury found one codefendant guilty while acquitting the other.
- Her lawyer advised against testifying if it might harm her codefendant.
- The codefendants decided to hire separate attorneys.
- Both codefendants pleaded not guilty to the charges.