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").
Shubuta is a town in Clarke County, Mississippi, United States. Shubuta was incorporated in 1865. Although Shubuta had become a trading post community in and around the 1830s, it was not until the Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek was signed that the area was available for settlement by European Americans. Shubuta started growing more rapidly when the railroad came through in the 1850s. It was at one time the largest town between Meridian and Mobile, with people coming from forty miles around to shop at the many mercantile businesses. The first record of the word Shubuta appears on Bernard Roman's Map of 1772, a copy of which appears in Riley's History of Mississippi. Riley wrote the name as "Chobuta", which means smoky water in the Choctaw language. The first newspaper in the area was the Mississippi Messenger, established by Judge Charles A. Stovall in 1879. The population was 651 at the 2000 census.