At the very outset, you need to realize that a prosecutor or a criminal lawyer, and a criminal defense lawyer are both attorneys who need to finish law school successfully. Both need to clear the bar exam in their states and be sworn in as lawyers. However, the primary difference is that the prosecutor represents the interest of the state or Federal government in court, and the criminal defense attorney is hired for a particular person who’s been charged with a crime. The bottom line is that each is on the opposite side of the courtroom. 

Another difference is that criminal lawyers deal exclusively with criminal matters, whereas criminal defense lawyers can represent clients in criminal matters as well as civil matters. Criminal lawyers try to convict a person who they believe has committed a crime whereas a criminal defense lawyer will defend the rights of the accused and try to convince a jury that their client wasn’t guilty. 

Criminal defense lawyers can be appointed by an individual or they can be appointed by the court. In maximum jurisdiction, there’s a public defender’s office to employ lawyers to represent criminal defendants who can’t afford to hire any of the best lawyers in California. Normally, a public defender is employed by the state or county court to act as the criminal defense lawyer. Usual cases that a criminal lawyer may represent range from fraud to domestic violence to DUIs. 

Theoretically, the prosecutor, working for the district attorney’s office, represents “the people’s” interest in the criminal courtroom. Whenever someone is suspected of a crime, then that person will be arrested and will ultimately be involved in a trial in front of a judge and jury. The prosecutor will gather all of the evidence and present it to the jury and try to convince the jury of the guilt of the accused, by questioning witnesses, victims, and experts, and submitting evidence. The defense lawyer will refute the charges and prove that the accused is innocent.