''Dark Justice'' is an American

crime drama Crime films, in the broadest sense, is a film genre inspired by and analogous to the crime fiction literary genre. Films of this genre generally involve various aspects of crime and its detection. Stylistically, the genre may overlap and comb ...

television series about a judge who becomes a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a person who ...

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 Bruce Paul Abbott (born July 28, 1954) is an American film, stage, and television actor. Originally beginning his career in theater, Abbott later gained notoriety for his role as Dan Cain in the cult sci-fi horror films ''Re-Animator'' (1985) and ...

(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 Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within c ...

Catalunya Catalonia (; ca, Catalunya ; Aranese Occitan: ''Catalonha'' ; es, Cataluña ) is an autonomous community of Spain, designated as a '' nationality'' by its Statute of Autonomy. Most of the territory (except the Val d'Aran) lies on the no ...

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = '' Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , ...

. Before the second season, the series had to switch locations due to

budget A budget is a calculation play, usually but not always financial, for a defined period, often one year or a month. A budget may include anticipated sales volumes and revenues, resource quantities including time, costs and expenses, environme ...

constraints caused by the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

. The second and third seasons were shot in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. 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

was chosen as his replacement. The location was also the main reason behind the casting of some

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

actors like Begoña Plaza in lead roles. When the series shifted to Los Angeles,

Janet Gunn Janet Gunn (born as Janet Lynn Fulkerson on November 2, 1961 is an American actress. She appeared in films '' Night of the Running Man'' (1995) and '' The Quest'' (1996), and from 1996 to 1999 starred as Detective Cassandra St. John in the USA N ...

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 USA Network (simply USA) is an American basic cable television channel owned by the NBCUniversal Television and Streaming division of Comcast's NBCUniversal through NBCUniversal Cable Entertainment. It was originally launched in 1977 as Madi ...

Plot synopsis

Nicholas Marshall, a former

police officer A police officer (also called a policeman and, less commonly, a policewoman) is a warranted law employee of a police force. In most countries, "police officer" is a generic term not specifying a particular rank. In some, the use of the ...

and

district attorney In the United States, a district attorney (DA), county attorney, state's attorney, prosecuting attorney, commonwealth's attorney, or state attorney is the chief prosecutor and/or chief law enforcement officer representing a U.S. state in a ...

, is a

judge A judge is a person who presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. A judge hears all the witnesses and any other evidence presented by the barristers or solicitors of the case, assesses the credibility an ...

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

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 Community service is unpaid work performed by a person or group of people for the benefit and betterment of their community without any form of compensation. Community service can be distinct from volunteering, since it is not always performe ...

for their offenses. The members of the watchmen were Arnold "Moon" Willis (

Dick O'Neill Richard Francis O'Neill (August 29, 1928 – November 17, 1998) was an American stage, film and television character actor best known for playing Irish cops, fathers, judges and army generals. He began his acting career as an original company ...

), who had once been a

con man A confidence trick is an attempt to defraud a person or group after first gaining their trust. Confidence tricks exploit victims using their credulity, naïveté, compassion, vanity, confidence, irresponsibility, and greed. Researchers have def ...

; Jericho "Gibs" Gibson (Clayton Prince), a special effects expert; and a female companion that changed several times during the three seasons. Kelly Cochrane (

) was a

rape Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse or other forms of sexual penetration carried out against a person without their consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority, or ...

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 - Judge Nicholas Marshall (1991) *

- Judge Nicholas Marshall (1992–1993) *

- Kelly Cochrane (1992–1993) *

- Arnold "Moon" Willis (1991–1993) * Clayton Prince - Jericho "Gibs" Gibson (1991–1993) * Begoña Plaza - Catalana "Cat" Duran (1991) * Viviane Vives - Maria Marti (1991) * Kit Kincannon - District Attorney Ken Horton (1991–93) *

Carrie-Anne Moss Carrie-Anne Moss (born August 21, 1967) is a Canadian actress. After early roles on television, she rose to international prominence for her role of Trinity in ''The Matrix'' series (1999–present). She has starred in '' Memento'' (2000) for w ...

- Tara McDonald (1991–1993) * Elisa Heinsohn - Samantha "Sam" Collins (1993)

Episode list

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

Season 1: 1991–92

Season 2: 1992–93

Season 3: 1993

External links

* * {{Crimetime After Primetime 1991 American television series debuts 1993 American television series endings 1990s American crime drama television series CBS original programming English-language television shows Television series by Warner Bros. Television Studios Television shows filmed in Spain Television shows filmed in Los Angeles Vigilante television series