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co·de·fen·dant | \ ˌkō-di-ˈfen-dənt 
, in legal circles often -ˌdant \
, in legal circles often -ˌdant \variants:
or co-defendant
plural codefendants or co-defendants
Definition of codefendant
: 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
Examples of codefendant in a Sentence
Recent Examples on the Web The case’s prosecutor responded that his office did not name Taylor as a codefendant.
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Kristen Bellstrom, Fortune, "Tory Burch joins Old Navy in paying employees to work Election Day polls," 3 Sep. 2020 On Monday, a superseding copy of the indictment was filed stating Williams as another codefendant.
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Madeline Mitchell, The Enquirer, "Cincinnati man is third to be arrested in connection to Fairfield homicide, documents say," 20 Aug. 2020 The indictment alleges that by 2011, Quiros and a codefendant persuaded about 169 investors to give a total of $93 million for the biotechnology project.
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Lisa Rathke, Star Tribune, "Miami businessman pleads guilty in Vermont ski fraud case," 14 Aug. 2020 When the victim opened his sliding glass patio door for the sale, Weber and the codefendant began assaulting the victim and demanding money.
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Madeline Mitchell, The Enquirer, "Blue Ash Police: Man arrested while on parole after multiple weapons found at his home," 6 Aug. 2020 Lundergan and a codefendant are set to be sentenced July 16 in federal court in Frankfort, the Lexington Herald-Leader reported.
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The Courier-Journal, "Former Kentucky Democratic Party chief Jerry Lundergan to be sentenced," 12 July 2020 Katsumata and codefendants Sakae Muto, 69, and Ichiro Takekuro, 73, pleaded not guilty at the trial’s opening session in June 2017.
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BostonGlobe.com, "TOKYO — A Japanese court ruled Thursday that three former executives of Tokyo Electric Power Company were not guilty of professional negligence in the 2011 disaster at the Fukushima nuclear power plant because ensuring absolute safety at nuclear plants was not a government requirement at that time.," 20 Sep. 2019 Taylor’s codefendant, Shannon Nichols, was sentenced in February to 50 years in federal prison.
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Marc Ramirez, Dallas News, "Fort Worth man who sexually exploited children as young as 9 gets 80-year sentence," 6 May 2020 Attorneys for Cobian-Alvarez’s codefendants couldn’t be reached Wednesday.
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Matthew Ormseth, Los Angeles Times, "Federal officials announce crackdown on violent drug cartel," 11 Mar. 2020
See MoreThese example sentences are selected automatically from various online news sources to reflect current usage of the word 'codefendant.' Views expressed in the examples do not represent the opinion of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
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Time Traveler for codefendant
The first known use of codefendant was circa 1644
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