Stock v. Byers

The issue in this malicious prosecution case is whether the defendant was entitled to a directed verdict at the close of the evidence because the evidence established, as a matter of law, that he acted with probable cause in instituting the underlying criminal prosecution against the plaintiff. We hold that he was so entitled.

The plaintiff, Hamilton Stock, is a resident of the town of Barnstead; the defendant, Steven Byers, is the Chief of Police of Barnstead. On May 17, 1977, the defendant received word of an alleged kidnapping committed by the plaintiff on May 13, 1977, in the towns of…