I'll find probable cause in your case can you afford to hire an attorney or do you need to be considered for court-appointed counsel?

Okay. You're listening to Houston we have a new criminal justice system on BBC World Service and I'm Carrie Blakenger, an investigative reporter with the

Marshall Project.

Welcome to Harris County Criminal Court at Law Number 4 in Houston in the United States.

This courtroom is on the eighth floor of the Criminal Justice

Center, a building that's busy but still battered from Hurricane Harvey, which shut the

place down in 2017. Since then, it's become ground zero for something of a revolution in

criminal justice.

Our dispatch advisor, witness observed male strikers' girlfriend with close fist on arrival, officer made contact.

It's a Tuesday morning, Judge Shannon Baldwin is presiding and she's hearing the details of a case before her as told by a county prosecutor

I'm going to find no probable cause on your interference with the duties of a public servant

The state has that may not sound revolutionary, but it is.

This is the defendant's first appearance,

and the case is already getting dismissed for lack of evidence.

That's because this judge isn't just taking the prosecutor's word for it when he says he has enough to bring charges.

She's asking questions.

A couple minutes later, Judge Baldwin motioned me over, and I asked whether this would have happened in previous years.

Uh, no. Prior judges, I'm not, I did not witness them having automatic PC probable cause hearings, excuse me.

So that is something we were all intent on happening when we first hit the bench.

So we were going to have probable cause hearings.

So I ask for them.

There are some that if they've never been seen before or touched before,

...