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").
Ballentine is an unincorporated community in Richland County, South Carolina, United States. It is part of the Columbia, South Carolina Metropolitan Statistical Area. The town was recently in the planning stages of being incorporated. Ballentine would be the seventh incorporated community in Richland County if it were to be incorporated. It would be the first created in the area since Arcadia Lakes was formed in 1959, according to the Municipal Association of South Carolina. The town would have had a population of about 2,500 people, however, the recent vote for incorporation was not successful.. The town's desire to incorporate was partially driven by the encroachment of nearby Irmo, South Carolina. Ballentine is located on Lake Murray, a large reservoir formed in the 1930s by the Dreher Shoals Dam, which at the time was the largest earthen dam in the world. Ballentine refers to itself on the signs leading into town as "The Gateway To Lake Murray". The community experienced much growth during the late twentieth century, sparked by the combination of its lakefront location and its proximity to the city of Columbia. In the twenty-first century, Ballentine has been transformed by the addition of two large, new, middle-class subdivisions and by some new commercial development as well as a new elementary school. It is now an affluent suburb of Columbia although it maintains something of a rural feel in many areas.