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").
Germanton is an unincorporated community in Forsyth and Stokes counties in the U.S. state of North Carolina, primarily in Stokes County. It is located approximately ten miles south-southwest of the Stokes County seat of Danbury, on North Carolina State Highway 65 at an altitude of 662 feet. Germanton was the county seat of Stokes County prior to Forsyth County being created from southern Stokes. Germanton was then centrally located in the middle of Stokes. Germanton was established in 1790 and is the oldest settlement in Stokes County. The town's 23 original acres were part of a 700-acre (2.8 km) tract that was granted to Jacob Lash by the Earl of Granville in 1762. American Revolutionary War Major Joseph Winston and later U.S. Congressman was a famous Germanton resident with a plantation nearby. Coal was mined in the Germanton area but was of low quality.