Dark Justice

This article is about the early 1990s crime drama. For the Playboy TV series, see Playboy's Dark Justice. For the anti-paedophile activists, see Dark Justice (group).

Dark Justice
Genre	Crime drama
Created by	Jeff Freilich
Starring	Ramy Zada Bruce Abbott Janet Gunn Dick O'Neill Clayton Prince
Music by	Mark Snow
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	3
No. of episodes	66 (list of episodes)
Production
Executive producer	Jeff Freilich
Producers	David Calloway Rift Fournier
Running time	45–48 minutes
Production companies	David Salzman Entertainment Institut del Cinema Català (ICC) Lorimar Television
Original release
Network	CBS
Release	April 5, 1991 (1991-04-05) – September 28, 1993 (1993-09-28)

Dark Justice is an American crime drama television series about a judge who becomes a vigilante by night so that he can bring high-level offenders who use technicalities to "escape" the legal system to what he calls "dark justice." The role of Judge Nicholas Marshall was played by actors Ramy Zada (1991) and Bruce Abbott (1992–1993).

The series began airing on April 5, 1991 and ran for three seasons (66 episodes) finishing on September 28, 1993.

Production and filming

During the first season, the series was shot in Barcelona, Catalunya, Spain. Before the second season, the series had to switch locations due to budget constraints caused by the 1992 Summer Olympics. The second and third seasons were shot in Los Angeles, California.

Actor Ramy Zada, who played the lead role of Judge Nicholas Marshall during the first season, was said to be unavailable for the second season due to the location change, and Bruce Abbott was chosen as his replacement. The location was also the main reason behind the casting of some Spanish actors like Begoña Plaza in lead roles. When the series shifted to Los Angeles, Janet Gunn permanently assumed the role of the female member of "The Night Watchmen," Kelly Cochrane.

Gunn later starred for three seasons as Cassandra St. John in Silk Stalkings, another Crimetime After Primetime drama, after it had moved exclusively to the USA Network.

Plot synopsis

Nicholas Marshall, a former police officer and district attorney, is a judge who loses his faith in the legal system after his wife and daughter are murdered in a car bombing intended for him. After the killer walks free due to a technicality, Marshall becomes a vigilante by night, dedicated to bringing what he calls "dark justice" to criminals who evade penalties due to technicalities. Marshall had already had his faith in the legal system shaken even before his wife and his daughter were murdered:

• as a youth, growing up in an unnamed ghetto in an unspecified city, his father was murdered by a hoodlum with local connections;
• as a police officer, technicalities often voided his arrests;
• as a prosecutor, having obtained his law degree through night school studies, crooked defenders would sometimes undermine his prosecutions; and
• after his election to a judgeship, the letter of the law often bound his hands.

To help him achieve his goal, Marshall uses a team of specialists whom the local press refers to as "The Night Watchmen." The team, a civilian counterpart to the mission teams of the governmental Impossible Missions Force, consists of people who were prosecuted for lower-level offenses, and who help him with some tasks; this can be seen as a form of community service for their offenses. The members of the watchmen were Arnold "Moon" Willis (Dick O'Neill), who had once been a con man; Jericho "Gibs" Gibson (Clayton Prince), a special effects expert; and a female companion that changed several times during the three seasons. Kelly Cochrane (Janet Gunn) was a rape victim whose attackers had been acquitted in Marshall's court. After she killed one of her attackers, Marshall added her to the team; she remained until the end of the series.

Marshall would typically target criminals whom he had encountered in his courtroom, but whom he was forced to release for technical reasons of one kind or another. Marshall would generally dismiss these defendants with the warning, "Justice may be blind, but it can see in the dark." He would then assume his alter ego as a long-haired, leather jacket-wearing, motorcycle-riding vigilante. His team would construct an elaborate sting operation, usually involving undercover work and even special effects. These operations were designed to elicit a confession from the criminal or otherwise trip him or her up so that courtroom-admissible (and/or technicality-resistant) evidence either of the original crime or of a different crime could be gathered.

Unfortunately for the Night Watchmen, the very police department in which Marshall himself had once served came to view them as criminals, and their crusade as illegal. By the time of the series conclusion, even the FBI had commenced to look into the activities of the Night Watchmen, a probe Marshall was, presumably, able to defuse when a federal agent provided him with the FBI file on the Night Watchmen.

Cast

• Ramy Zada as Judge Nicholas Marshall (1991)
• Bruce Abbott as Judge Nicholas Marshall (1992–1993)
• Janet Gunn as Kelly Cochrane (1992–1993)
• Dick O'Neill as Arnold "Moon" Willis (1991–1993)
• Clayton Prince as Jericho "Gibs" Gibson (1991–1993)
• Begoña Plaza as Catalana "Cat" Duran (1991)
• Viviane Vives as Maria Marti (1991)
• Kit Kincannon as District Attorney Ken Horton (1991–93)
• Carrie-Anne Moss as Tara McDonald (1991–1993)
• Elisa Heinsohn as Samantha "Sam" Collins (1993)

Episode list

• Nº = Overall episode number
• Ep = Episode number by season

Season 1: 1991–92

Nº	Ep	Title	Director	Writer	Air date
1	1	"Nowhere to Hide"	Jeff Freilich	Jeff Freilich	April 5, 1991 (1991-04-05)
2	2	"What Comes Around"	David Calloway	Duke Sandfer	April 12, 1991 (1991-04-12)
3	3	"Out of Mind, Out of Sight"	Tim Hunter	James Cappe	April 19, 1991 (1991-04-19)
4	4	"To Die For"	David Calloway	Gordon Mitchell	April 26, 1991 (1991-04-26)
5	5	"In Mysterious Ways"	Ken Wiederhorn	Terry Black	May 3, 1991 (1991-05-03)
6	6	"The Carnival"	John Nicolella	Michael De Luca & Alan J. Scott	May 10, 1991 (1991-05-10)
7	7	"Brother Mine"	Jeff Freilich	Chris Bunch & Allan Cole	May 17, 1991 (1991-05-17)
8	8	"Broken Toys"	Ken Widerhorn	E Nick Alexander	May 24, 1991 (1991-05-24)
9	9	"I Hate Mondays"	Tom DeSimone	Michael De Luca & Alan J. Scott	May 31, 1991 (1991-05-31)
10	10	"Simon Says"	John Lafia	Story by : John Carlen Teleplay by : John Carlen & James Cappe	June 7, 1991 (1991-06-07)
11	11	"Urban Renewal"	Tom DeSimone	Michael De Luca & Alan J. Scott	September 13, 1991 (1991-09-13)
12	12	"Once Upon a Time in Krestridge"	Luis Valdivieso	James Cappe	September 20, 1991 (1991-09-20)
13	13	"Forbes for the Defense"	Luis Valdivieso	Rebecca J. Pogrow	September 27, 1991 (1991-09-27)
14	14	"Marshall Law"	David Calloway	Jeff Freilich & Michael De Luca	October 4, 1991 (1991-10-04)
15	15	"Fruit of the Poisonous Tree"	Tom DeSimone	Rift Fournier & Michael De Luca	October 18, 1991 (1991-10-18)
16	16	"Smokescreen"	David Calloway	Tony Kayden	October 25, 1991 (1991-10-25)
17	17	"The Neutralizing Factor"	Ken Widerhorn	Susan Estabrook	November 1, 1991 (1991-11-01)
18	18	"Playing the Odds"	John Lafia	James Cappe	November 8, 1991 (1991-11-08)
19	19	"Diplomatic Immunity"	Ken Widerhorn	Rift Fournier	November 15, 1991 (1991-11-15)
20	20	"Caught in the Act"	David Calloway	Story by : Jeff Freilich & James Cappe Teleplay by : Rift Fournier	November 22, 1991 (1991-11-22)
21	21	"Once Loved, Twice Dead"	Ramy Zada	Duke Sandefur	February 7, 1992 (1992-02-07)
22	22	"Judgement Night"	Jeff Freilich	Christopher Trumbo & Jeff Freilich	February 28, 1992 (1992-02-28)

Season 2: 1992–93

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Directed by	Written by	Original air date
23	1	"Bump in the Night"	Unknown	Karen Clark	April 17, 1992 (1992-04-17)
24	2	"Anniversary"	Unknown	James Cappe	April 24, 1992 (1992-04-24)
25	3	"Prime Cuts"	Unknown	Alan J. Scott & Michael De Luca	May 1, 1992 (1992-05-01)
26	4	"Lead Rain"	Unknown	Duke Sandefur	May 8, 1992 (1992-05-08)
27	5	"Lush Life"	Unknown	Christopher Trumbo	May 15, 1992 (1992-05-15)
28	6	"The Specialist"	Unknown	James Cappe	May 29, 1992 (1992-05-29)
29	7	"Needy Things"	Unknown	Susan Estabrook	June 5, 1992 (1992-06-05)
30	8	"Snitch"	Unknown	Christopher Trumbo	June 12, 1992 (1992-06-12)
31	9	"Instant Replay"	Unknown	Duke Sandefur	September 25, 1992 (1992-09-25)
32	10	"The Highest Court"	Unknown	Terry Black	October 2, 1992 (1992-10-02)
33	11	"Deadline"	Unknown	Christopher Trumbo	October 9, 1992 (1992-10-09)
34	12	"A Better Mousetrap"	Unknown	Greg Strangis	October 16, 1992 (1992-10-16)
35	13	"Happy Mother's Day"	Unknown	March Kessler	October 23, 1992 (1992-10-23)
36	14	"Black Heart"	Unknown	Michael De Luca & Alan J. Scott	October 30, 1992 (1992-10-30)
37	15	"Jail Bait"	Unknown	Karen Clark	November 6, 1992 (1992-11-06)
38	16	"Venus Flytrap"	Unknown	Duke Sandefur	November 13, 1992 (1992-11-13)
39	17	"Teenage Pajama Party Massacre: Part IV"	Unknown	Greg Strangis	November 20, 1992 (1992-11-20)
40	18	"Shrink"	Unknown	Christopher Trumbo	November 27, 1992 (1992-11-27)
41	19	"The Merchant"	James Cappe	James Cappe	February 5, 1993 (1993-02-05)
42	20	"Blast from the Past"	Unknown	Story by : Jeff Freilich Teleplay by : Karen Clark	February 12, 1993 (1993-02-12)
43	21	"Cold Reading"	Unknown	Story by : Ken Wiederhorn Teleplay by : Ken Wiederhorn & James Cappe	February 19, 1993 (1993-02-19)
44	22	"Suitable for Framing"	Unknown	Story by : Jeff Freilich Teleplay by : Duke Sandefur	February 26, 1993 (1993-02-26)

Season 3: 1993

Nº	Ep	Title	Air date
45	1	"Joyride"	April 16, 1993 (1993-04-16)
46	2	"Night Games"	April 23, 1993 (1993-04-23)
47	3	"Last Rites"	April 30, 1993 (1993-04-30)
48	4	"Person or Persons Unknown"	May 7, 1993 (1993-05-07)
49	5	"Clean Kill"	May 14, 1993 (1993-05-14)
50	6	"The Greening of Glenda Ross"	May 21, 1993 (1993-05-21)
51	7	"Uncle Tony's Cabin"	May 28, 1993 (1993-05-28)
52	8	"Pygmalion"	June 4, 1993 (1993-06-04)
53	9	"Backfire"	June 11, 1993 (1993-06-11)
54	10	"Second Anniversary"	June 18, 1993 (1993-06-18)
55	11	"Squeeze Play"	June 25, 1993 (1993-06-25)
56	12	"Incorrect Dosage"	July 2, 1993 (1993-07-02)
57	13	"2nd Story"	July 9, 1993 (1993-07-09)
58	14	"Three on a Match"	July 16, 1993 (1993-07-16)
59	15	"Crash Course"	July 23, 1993 (1993-07-23)
60	16	"The Push"	July 30, 1993 (1993-07-30)
61	17	"My Dinner with Nick"	August 6, 1993 (1993-08-06)
62	18	"In Cover of Darkness: Part 1"	August 17, 1993 (1993-08-17)
63	19	"In Cover of Darkness: Part 2"	August 24, 1993 (1993-08-24)
64	20	"The Doctor Is In"	September 14, 1993 (1993-09-14)
65	21	"A Kiss Goodbye"	September 21, 1993 (1993-09-21)
66	22	"A Novel Way to Die"	September 28, 1993 (1993-09-28)

External links

• Dark Justice at IMDb
• Dark Justice at epguides.com