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").
Hastings is a city in and the county seat of Adams County, Nebraska, United States. The population was 24,064 at the 2000 census. Hastings is home to Hastings College, a four-year liberal arts college founded in 1882. It is known as the town where Kool-Aid was invented by Edwin Perkins in 1927, and celebrates that event with Kool-Aid Days the second weekend of every August. Hastings is also home to Fisher Fountain, and during World War II operated the largest Naval Ammunition Depot in the United States. Hastings is also the birthplace of Neal Hefti and former University of Nebraska football coach and Congressman Tom Osborne. A National Weather Service Forecast Office is located there, serving central and south-central Nebraska and six counties in north-central Kansas. On June 24, 2007, Hastings won Yahoo's Greenest City in America competition. Hastings is the principal city of the Hastings, Nebraska Micropolitan Statistical Area, which consists of Adams and Clay counties.