Home invasion. (Exercising the Right).

In October of last year, Medgar and Marsha Flowers moved into their rented one-story brick home in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. At about 11:30 p.m. on January 2nd, Mr. Flowers was watching television as his wife was preparing a late dinner when someone knocked on their front door. When Mrs. Flowers opened the door, two armed men barged in. One fired a number of shots into a coffee table and a living room wall. Mrs. Flowers ran Out the front door, followed by the gun-wielding intruder, who fired at her several times. One bullet grazed her neck, leaving a non-life-threatening gash. Her assailant then opted to flee rather than return to the house.

Mr. Flowers grabbed the other intruder, later identified as 26-year-old Joseph Going. Flowers estimates that the ensuing struggle lasted for about 15 minutes, during which time Going strove to draw a gun from his jacket pocket while Flowers fought to stop him. Flowers was also simultaneously trying to reach his own handgun on a nearby coffee table.

Eventually, Flowers was able to reach his gun and fire about a dozen shots at Going. "I didn't even know if I had hit him," Flowers told the Baton Rouge Advocate. "There was no blood, and he never fell. It was like I hadn't shot him."

But he had, numerous times. Mortally wounded, Going nevertheless kept fighting, and when he tried to hit Flowers with a glass bottle, the latter began beating him ...