public defender
noun
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 defenders
-
pluralof public defender.plural
The grammatical form denoting more than one person, place, thing, or idea.
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
Kay’s appellate attorney David Gerger withdrew in April and most recent appeal was written by a team of federal public defenders led by Jason D. Hawkins.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 2, 2026
Zacharia succeeded Karoline Leavitt, who stepped down in August after becoming one of the most prominent public defenders of Trump's second administration.
From Barron's ● Oct. 14, 2026
Johnson has maintained his innocence and lawyers from the Pennsylvania Innocence Project, which seeks to free the wrongfully convicted, have worked with his public defenders to clear him.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 27, 2026
"Our client's choice to consent to removal should not be seen as an endorsement of this court's legitimacy," public defenders Matthew Farley and Mary Manning Petras said in a statement to The Washington Post.
From BBC ● Sep. 12, 2026
When I searched online for his name, I found a website with a list of public defenders.
From "From the Desk of Zoe Washington" by Janae Marks
