Except where the context clearly indicates otherwise, as used in this Code:
(1) "Act" includes a failure or omission to perform a legal duty.
(2) "City" means a city, town, village, or other municipality.
(3) "Convicted" means adjudicated guilty after a plea or after trial on the merits.
(4) "Defendant" means a person who has been charged with or accused of an offense.
(5) "District Attorney" includes an assistant district attorney, and where the prosecution is in a city court, includes the prosecuting officer of that court.
(6) "Indictment" includes information and affidavit, unless it is the clear intent to restrict that word to the finding of a grand jury.
(7) "Institution of prosecution" means the finding of an indictment, or the filing of an information, or affidavit, which is designed to serve as the basis of a trial.
(8) "Oath" includes affirmation.
(9) "Person" includes an individual, partnership, unincorporated association of individuals, joint stock company, or corporation.
(10) "State" includes a city or other political subdivision of the state.
(11) "Statute" and "criminal law" mean a criminal statute, a constitutional provision, or an ordinance of a city or other political subdivision of the state.
(12) "Trial on the merits" means trial on the issue of guilt or innocence.