If you have never stepped foot inside an American criminal courtroom, you are missing one of the most eye-opening and electrifying experiences you can have.   Actually you can get your fill of true crime in a single day. Forget the marathon of sitting through an entire trial. That is a multi-week slog. I am talking about a preliminary hearing, the fast, concentrated jolt of the justice system where the stakes are high, the drama is real, and the outcome can change a defendant’s life forever. There are only two ways a criminal case heads toward trial. The first is through a grand jury indictment. That is a secret process, no public allowed, not even the defendant’s lawyer. Unless the accused chooses to testify, he will never see the jurors’ faces or hear the evidence directly. It is a closed-door decision that can feel like a mystery. The second way, the one you can witness, is the preliminary hearing. It is like a mini-trial where the prosecutor parades witnesses to the stand, s...