69 Mo. App. 92 | Mo. Ct. App. | 1897
This is an action for malicious prosecution, it being alleged, among other things, that defendant “falsely and maliciously and without probable cause whatsoever, at his own instance caused and procured the plaintiff to be charged with the crime of unlawfully, willfully, and maliciously injuring and destroying a certain bridge erected and maintained for public use, etc.that defendant was arrested under such charge, and upon a trial thereof discharged by order of court. The answer is a general denial and a plea that' the'prosecution was instituted by the prosecuting attorney of* the county after defendant and other citizens had laid before him the matters in their knowledge concerning the offense charged and all other facts, which they - could have learned by reasonable diligence; that defendant had no further connection with the case than as a witness on the trial, and that he acted in all respects in good faith and without malice. There was evidence tending to prove the allegations of the peti
“(1) It requires both the procuring of the arrest and prosecution, maliciously and without probable cause, to maintain this action. Defendant must have actually acted on his own motion, and not oh the advice of a lawyer, after having stated all the facts to him he was possessed of, or could have obtained on reasonable inquiry, with an evil intention prompted by a wicked heart, against one that an ordinary, prudent man would not have believed guilty under the facts and circumstances.”
“(2) Though you may believe' that plaintiff has proven by a preponderance of the evidence in the cause, that defendant caused the arrest and prosecution of plaintiff, and was prompted so to do through and by malice, yet unless you believe by a preponderance of the whole evidence in the cause that defendant did not believe plaintiff was guilty of the crime charged, and that from the facts proven, an ordinary, reasonable, prudent man would not have believed him guilty, you will find for the defendant.”
Finding no reversible error in this record the judgment will be affirmed.