A public defender is a lawyer who is employed by a city or county to represent people who are accused of crimes but cannot afford to pay for a lawyer themselves.
[US]
public defender in British English
noun
(in the US) a lawyer engaged at public expense to represent indigent defendants
public defender in American English
US
an attorney employed at public expense to defend indigent persons accused of crimes
Examples of 'public defender' in a sentence
public defender
Dray learned that the public defender had filed a 1538 motion to suppress evidence.