Also known as: codefendants · co-defendant · co-defendants · joint defendant
Written by attorneys · grounded in primary & secondary sources — see below
A defendant joined with one or more others in the same lawsuit or criminal prosecution.
Cecilia Cabrera and Caitlin Crowley were indicted together on drug charges. After indictment, officers arranged for an informant to record a conversation in which Crowley made statements implicating Cabrera in the charged offense. The recording was introduced at trial against Cabrera.
Colin Chambers and Craig Caldwell, two government officials, were sued together in a civil rights action. Chambers moved for summary judgment on qualified immunity grounds while Caldwell remained in the case on related claims arising from the same conduct.
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Carlos Castillo was convicted after his codefendant testified against him at trial. Castillo later claimed his lawyer provided ineffective assistance by failing to challenge the codefendant's credibility during cross-examination.
Carmen Choi sued a Taiwanese tube manufacturer and its codefendant valve supplier in California court after a motorcycle accident. The valve supplier argued that the court lacked personal jurisdiction over it because its contacts with the forum were too attenuated.
Canyon Construction employees Colin Chambers and Craig Caldwell were arrested together for vagrancy while walking near a job site late at night. Both challenged the statute as unconstitutionally vague after being charged in the same proceeding.
Cedar Creek Farms owners Cecilia Cabrera and Carlos Castillo were charged together with unlawful possession of a sawed-off shotgun. The indictment alleged that both defendants had jointly acquired and stored the weapon on farm property.
Yes. When removal is based on the general removal statute, each properly served codefendant must join in or clearly consent on the record, typically by signing the notice or filing a separate written consent. A bare assertion by one defendant that the others consent is insufficient.
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Admission violates the Clause in a joint trial when the confession directly implicates the defendant, even with a limiting instruction. Redactions that obviously point to the defendant or interlocking confessions do not cure the violation.
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Yes. Each codefendant has its own thirty-day removal window measured from its own service. A later-served codefendant may file a timely notice, and earlier-served codefendants may consent even after their own periods have closed.
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No. Original jurisdiction must appear on the face of the plaintiff's complaint. A cross-claim filed by one codefendant against another cannot supply the federal question needed to support removal when the plaintiff's claims are purely state-law matters.
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…made it unnecessary to delve at length into the facts. The facts of the defendant's case there, however, paralleled those of his co-defendants, whose confessions were found to have resulted from continuous and coercive interrogation for 27 hours, with denial of requests for friends or attorney. See United States v. Murphy , 222…