Don't buy the spin. SYG had everything to do with Zimmerman's acquittal

[ctaylors6]

29. Maybe this will help clear up confusion

In about 2005, FLorida passed legislation pertaining to self-defense laws. So-called SYG legislation. It included different parts.

1 part was the immunity provision that provides immunity from "prosecution" and provides for a pretrial immunity hearing. Since prosecution includes arrest, that part likely came into play at the beginning of all this. Zimmerman waived the pretrial immunity hearing.

Another part removed of the SYG the duty to retreat from the general self-defense law in Florida. So if you're someplace you're legally allowed to be (but outside your home, which is covered by a different provision in the law) then you do not have a duty to retreat - ie you can stand your ground. That is the basic self-defense law in Florida, and the statute is used in the jury instructions in any case in which the jury is to consider self-defense. I think more than 30 of the states in the US have removed the duty to retreat (not sure of exact statistics - haven't kept track.)

I think all of these back and forths about about SYG "applying" or not have arisen because people have heard something on the news or read something in forums or in the news about SYG but did not realize that there were different parts. Plus people have been using the word "apply" which IMHO is really too vague a word to use in this context. For example, a commentator may have said SYG will not "apply" because Zimmerman waived the pretrial hearing. What that really meant is Zimmerman waived the pretrial SYG immunity hearing. It does not mean anything about the duty to retreat part. That's just part of the basic self-defense law in FL now.

Edited to add: In Florida, a defendant can claim self-defense against a charge of manslaughter. So the self-defense laws (technically called justifiable use of force in FL penal code) were given in the instructions related to both murder and manslaughter.

Edited again to add: 776.012 and 776.013 are the general self-defense laws that were given in jury instructions. Also wanted to mention that there's another provision of the FL self-defense laws (776.041) that provide an exception to the self-defense laws for an "initial aggressor." The parties argued over the inclusion/exclusion of that provision during the charging conference, and the judge ruled that it would be excluded.