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").
Sheridan is a village in Montcalm County in the U.S. state of Michigan. The population was 705 at the 2000 census. The village is located at the corners of four townships and incorporates land from each: Evergreen Township to the northeast, Bushnell Township to the southeast, Fairplain Township to the southwest, and Sidney Township to the northwest. In 1851, Louis Lovell recorded an entry for land here and John W. Winsor built the first business, a sawmill. A shingle-mill owner, Erastus P. Brown, became the first postmaster here on October 14, 1864. It was a station on the Toledo, Saginaw and Muskegon Railway. Sheridan incorporated as a village in 1877 and was named for Union Civil War General Philip Sheridan.