Larry Thompson was handcuffed after police entered his apartment without a warrant to investigate a report that he was abusing his infant daughter. The child was examined and no abuse was found, and prosecutors did not charge Thompson. He sued the officers under the Fourth Amendment, but the Second Circuit held that he could not establish a favorable termination because the prosecution had ended without a formal dismissal. The Supreme Court reversed. It held that a plaintiff bringing a Fourth Amendment malicious-prosecution claim need show only that the criminal prosecution ended without a conviction; he need not prove that the proceeding ended with an affirmative indication of innocence. The favorable-termination requirement asks whether the prosecution ended without a conviction, while the absence of probable cause and other elements address the merits. Justice Alito dissented, arguing that the common-law tort required a more favorable termination than the majority recognized.