Who prosecutes a case in district court

City attorney. The city's civil counsel. They advise the council, draft ordinances and represent the city in civil matters. Being a city's attorney says nothing by itself about who prosecutes its criminal cases.

City prosecutor. Prosecutes that city's ordinance violations and misdemeanors in district court. Sometimes this is the same person as the city attorney — Bella Vista publishes one title covering both — and often it is a separate contracted firm.

Prosecuting Attorney. An elected office covering the 19th Judicial District West, which is Benton County. That office handles felonies and county and state misdemeanors. It is not the prosecutor for a city's own ordinance cases.

The practical consequence: two cases heard in the same building on different days can be prosecuted by entirely different offices.

The county's administrative plan sets separate docket days at Benton County West depending on who is prosecuting. The 2nd Wednesday is for plea and discovery hearings and trials brought by city prosecutors; the 3rd Wednesday is for those brought by the Benton County Prosecutor's Office.

That is the distinction written into the schedule itself, by the court, for one building. Five cities are heard there and three different firms prosecute between them.

A prosecutor does not represent the person accused. They are not that person's lawyer and cannot give them legal advice, no matter how informally a conversation in a courthouse hallway begins.

A prosecutor also does not represent a victim personally. They represent the city or the State. A victim may have views the prosecutor takes seriously and the prosecutor is still not their private attorney.

Who represents the accused is a separate role — a defense attorney, privately retained or, for those who cannot afford one, a public defender.