Criminal career cut short.(Exercising The Right)

At around 3 a.m. on October 21, 2003, Tommy Christian was asleep in his Jackson, Mississippi, home when he was awakened by the noise of someone tampering with his back door. Having been burglarized on two other occasions in recent weeks, Christian grabbed a handgun and went to investigate.

The intruder, Christopher Stiff, had used a tire iron to pry open the door and enter the house. Christian confronted Stiff and fired two shots that struck him in the abdomen and leg. Christian then called police to report a burglary in progress. When they arrived, officers found Stiff lying mortally wounded on the floor just inside the back door. He was rushed to the University of Mississippi Medical Center, but died less than two hours later.

The Mississippi Department of Corrections had three different sets of records on Stiff. Spanning more than a decade, they included more than 30 arrests (and numerous convictions) on ...