A criminal case is an allegation that someone has broken a law. The main difference between civil cases (which involve disputes between people or organizations) and criminal cases is that the defendant is charged with a crime and the government must prove the crime beyond a reasonable doubt.
The first step in a criminal case is called an arraignment. At an arraignment the judge reads the charges and tells the suspect (called a defendant) what their rights are, including that they can have a trial by jury and that they must have a lawyer. The judge will also set the date for the next steps in the case.
After the arraignment there may be a pre-trial conference where the prosecutor and defendant try to agree on a plea bargain to avoid going to trial. If they can’t, the case will be sent to circuit court for trial.
If the case is a felony, and there is enough evidence to charge it as one, the prosecutor can file it without a grand jury in federal district court by filing what’s called an “information.” This contains the same information as an indictment, but does not include any of the facts that would be included in a detailed affidavit.
Most misdemeanor cases are tried in County Court. Serious felony cases are often bound over to District Court or direct-filed there as the result of a grand jury indictment. In some cases where there are both felony and misdemeanor charges, the felony case is tried in District Court, but the misdemeanor case is heard along with it.