Laid blame on defendant (7)
I believe the answer is:
accused
'defendant' is the definition.
(synonyms)
'laid blame on' is the wordplay.
'laid' becomes 'd' (I am not sure about this - if you are sure you should believe this answer much more).
'blame' becomes 'accuse ' (I've seen this in another clue).
'on' says to put letters next to each other.
'd' put after 'accuse' is 'ACCUSED'.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for accused that I've seen before include "Defendant appearing on a criminal charge" , "Charged with an offence" , "Charged with a crime" , "One tried" , "He who stands in the dock" .)