... is what seems to be demonstrated in this week's Gunsmoke.
In this second episode of the long running series, Marshal Matt Dillon rides into a lynching party. A stranger, Cope Borden, has been found riding a horse bearing the brand of a local rancher, has been assumed a horse thief, and is about to pay the ultimate penalty. Matt breaks up the lynching party, promising a fair trial for the accused man. Rance Bradley, leader of the group, points out that the accused is not a good guy, pointing out the notches on his gun.
At some point, Dillon may, in some corner of his mind that he doesn't want to admit to, think that maybe he should have just rode on when he came across that lynching, because the accused horse thief is insufferable and mean. But he also turns out to be innocent of stealing that horse. It is confirmed that Borden bought the horse from another person in another town, and he is released. But he doesn't leave town. In fact, he ends up shooting dead the nephew of the guy who wanted to lynch him in the first place, Rance Bradley, in a game of cards. They were both armed, both drew, and Borden just won. In 1870s Dodge, that was AOK as far as the law was concerned.
But Bradley now wants to kill the guy for this and has enlisted his original lynching party to help him. So Matt is faced with possibly having to shoot basically decent citizens of the town - Bradley and his gang - to defend a really terrible person - Borden - who is harrassing Dillon the entire time that he is defending him with his life!
How will this all work out? Watch and find out.
The title comes from the fact that there is a hot spell going on, and at the end the bad behavior is somewhat blamed on the heat, although there can be no disputing basically good people do terrible rash things sometimes.