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public defender

noun

  1. a lawyer appointed or elected by a city or county as a full-time, official defender to represent indigents in criminal cases at public expense.


public defender

noun

  1. (in the US) a lawyer engaged at public expense to represent indigent defendants
“Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged” 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

public defender

  1. An attorney who is appointed and paid by a court to defend poor persons who cannot afford a lawyer.
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Word History and Origins

Origin of public defender1

First recorded in 1915–20
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Example Sentences

“They were progressive D.A.s who really should have been public defenders and not D.A.s,” says Townsend, who advises moderate Democratic candidates.

Her court-appointed attorney, deputy federal public defender Rebecca Harris, did not respond to an email seeking comment.

Eventually, at the advice of his public defender, he stopped going out alone so much, hoping to avoid deputies he said he feared might harass him.

A call to Nelson’s court-ordered public defender was not immediately returned.

Carrillo’s public defender also did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the ruling.

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