After threatening two boys (John Aaron Bennett, Zach McLemore) who trespassed on his property, a dangerous man (Jason Byce) is shot dead in his home. With Carroll O'Connor.
Gillespie becomes sheriff; the murders of two Spartans link to a mentally impaired youth; guests Stacy Keach, Burgess Meredith.
Bubba's friend Lorie Foster is accused of murder following the death of the man who infected her with AIDS.
Harriet consults Gillespie after she reluctantly agrees to help her son get his imprisoned father's murder conviction reversed.
While in Philadelphia to investigate a former partner's death, Virgil (Howard Rollins) is arrested for the murder of a city cop.
Gillespie travels to Philadelphia to help Tibbs, who has been arrested for a murder he did not commit.
Chief Gillespie is shocked by the seemingly uncaring reaction of the father of a murdered teenage prostitute.
Gillespie tries to calm public furor while investigating charges a science teacher molested a student.
Gillespie and Virgil have different game plans concerning the fate of a federal criminal who is linked to a local hit-and-run case.
Bubba's romance with a high school sweetheart conflicts with the murder investigation of an attorney.
Evidence indicates a mentally impaired girl is the mother of an infant found in a shallow grave.
Althea suspects a student has problems at home, then learns one parent is dead, the other is missing.
Bubba downplays the gossip that he is the father of a baby left on his doorstep; blackmail and murder surface in the search for the baby's parents.
When a fundamentalist preacher is found dead, an ironclad alibi prevents Gillespie from pursuing the case against a traveling madam.
Althea finds a woman's death especially tragic, and Gillespie investigates whether the woman's ex-husband ran her down.
Althea (Anne-Marie Johnson) does not know that a visiting friend (Patrice Chanel) is a fugitive from justice. With Carroll O'Connor.
Tempers flare over the arrest of a black man (Steve Coulter) suspected of murder. With Howard Rollins and Carroll O'Connor.
Chief Gillespie refuses to point out the obvious suspect in the murder of Councilwoman DeLong's sister.
Councilwoman DeLong ventures outside Sparta to find the powerful figure responsible for her sister's murder.