Wiretapping of the Democratic Party's headquarters. E. Howard Hunt and G. Gordon Liddy, who led the Watergate break-in team, were stationed in a Watergate Hotel room while the burglary was underway. A lookout was posted across the street at the Howard Johnson Hotel.
The judge, however, remains above the fray, providing an independent and impartial assessment of the facts and how the law applies to those facts. Many criminal cases - and almost all civil ones - are heard by a judge sitting without a jury. The judge is the trier of fact, deciding whether the evidence is credible and which witnesses are telling the truth.
1 Trials can also be conducted by judges alone, when the defendant waives the right to a jury, but prelims never involve a jury.  The burden of proof, while still on the prosecution, is much lower during a preliminary hearing than it is during trial. At trial, the prosecution has the burden of proving each element of the charged offense(s) beyond a reasonable doubt.