County Court-at-Law Judge Tim Johnson read the names of the list of 51 people scheduled to appear for their various misdemeanor charges — criminal trespass, marijuana possession, bad checks, evading arrest — and 13 drunken driving charges.

Then he told DWI defendants they might have another option.

“The district attorney started a new program at the end of last month that you need to know about,” Johnson said.

The program, called Take Responsibility, allows first-time DWI defendants with certain conditions — no accident occurred, no children were passengers, and the defendant must be respectful to officers, among other things — to plead to a charge of “obstruction of a highway — intoxication.”

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