Nick was clearly a highly successful judge to have made it from cop to District Attorney to Your Honor in such a short time. He was supposed to die in the bombing, but neither he nor the bomber had any way of knowing his wife and daughter would take the wired car before him. That incident by itself did not change his purpose it was the outcome of the trial that set the tone for his double life. The judge recruited some lower-level offenders (which he was clearly able to sentence more easily) for an unusual form of community service: join his leather-clad vigilante patrol the Night Watchmen to bring down those who were able to use legal loopholes to get off scot-free (as did the bomber). He still operated from the bench by day, except that he warned those he knew were guilty: justice is blind, but it sees in the dark. By night, off came the glasses, down came his hair, and the suit was replaced by a leather outfit. And off they went on their motorcycles, to target the antagonist.