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").
Three Bridges is a village in Readington, New Jersey on the South Branch Raritan River, named for the three original bridges there which crossed the river. Farmers, John Vlerebone and Harriet Foster Cline were original land owners in the area of Three Bridges. They eventually sold some of their land to the Central Railroad of New Jersey for its South Branch Line. Vlerebone and Kline subdivided their land along Old York Road after 1864, which allowed a village to build up along the road. In 1885, the Lehigh Valley Railroad also built a line through Three Bridges. Numerous lines for shipping produce and a number of daily passenger lines stopped in the village in its heyday. Today, with the loss of the passenger lines, a large number of commercial businesses are gone, but there are still a number of restaurants and a branch of the Hunterdon County Library System.