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").
Cotton Center is an unincorporated community in western Hale County, Texas, United States, located approximately 12 miles southwest of Hale Center. Until the late 1800s the Comanche tribe of Native-Americans occupied the area. In 1907, with the coming of a branch of the Santa Fe Railroad, a number of farming operations were established. Cotton Center was originally created in 1925 as a consolidated school district, with a small town site, containing the school, cotton gins and various businesses to support the surrounding farms. In 1935 a local post office opened, and the first irrigation well was drilled. By the late 1940s irrigation wells proliferated, pumping water from the Ogallala Aquifer. The community revolves around farming and is tied together by the school, which as of 2005 had 140 students in pre-kindergarten through grade 12.