Zimmerman studied Florida's 'Stand Your Ground' law: trial witness

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32. We live about 90 minutes from there. As I walked in, the local news was on and someone was being

interviewed from about today's testimony. The point being made that while the class covered self-defense laws, apparently of other states as well as Florida, they were in the class materials and discussed by their actual names as opposed to the nick-names we usually see in the press.

So you'll now see & hear "stand your ground" all over the press, but not in the title or text of the law. Instead, the class would have addressed:

"Florida Statutes CHAPTER 776 (JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE)."

The specific section at issue in this case is:

"776.012?Use of force in defense of person. A person is justified in using force, except deadly force, against another when and to the extent that the person reasonably believes that such conduct is necessary to defend himself or herself or another against the other’s imminent use of unlawful force. However, a person is justified in the use of deadly force and does not have a duty to retreat if:

(1)?He or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony; or

(2)?Under those circumstances permitted pursuant to s. 776.013."


The controversial provision is that upon crossing the threshold where use of deadly force is justified, there is no duty to retreat. Courts determine if that threshold is crossed.

I'm not sure what national news is saying; however, reporters covering the courts for our local stations have been saying that the state has been struggling making its case and that several "prosecution witnesses" have been more helpful to the defense than to the state. And after the investigator testified yesterday that he judged Zimmerman to be consistent and truthful, our news questioned why the prosecutors let the jury go home with that thought and didn't object until today.