In a criminal case, the state, through a prosecutor, initiates the suit, while in a civil case the victim brings the suit. Persons convicted of a crime may be incarcerated, fined, or both. Criminal defense attorneys represent clients who have been accused of committing a crime, and defend their rights at each stage of a misdemeanor or felony case -- from an arrest to an appeal after conviction. Criminal defense attorneys may be hired privately or provided by the government (called "public defenders").
Council Bluffs is a city in and the county seat of Pottawattamie County, Iowa, United States and is on the east bank of the Missouri River. The population was 58,268 at the 2000 census. Along with neighboring Omaha, Council Bluffs is part of the 60th-largest metropolitan area in the United States in 2000, with an estimated population of 837,925 residing in the eight counties of the Omaha-Council Bluffs metropolitan area. Council Bluffs is several decades older than its significantly larger neighbor across the river, Omaha, which was founded by Council Bluffs businessmen and speculators in 1854 following the Kansas-Nebraska Act.