George Zimmerman's Acquittal: Four Blunt Observations

[JDPriestly]

31. Actually, I believe the jury disagreed with your point. Stand Your Ground laws have

apparently changed the jury instructions for self-defense in Florida.

Maddy told ABC News that had she followed her heart, she would have held out for a guilty verdict.

“I was the juror that was gonna give them a hung jury,” she said. “I fought to the end.”

. . . .
It's worth remembering that if Zimmerman had shot Martin before Florida passed its "stand your ground" law in 2005, the jury would have been instructed that the shooter "cannot justify his use of force likely to cause death or great bodily harm if by retreating he could have avoided the need to use that force."

That might have given Maddy all the moral ammunition she needed.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-stand-your-ground-zimmerman-trayvon-martin-20130726,0,5166758.story

If the jury instructions had not been changed due to Stand Your Ground laws, Zimmerman might well have been convicted. He should have been in my opinion, but it is very hard to get a conviction with so little hard evidence. But he made no claim that he tried to retreat. To the contrary. He did not try to avoid a confrontation or let the police handle it.

The Stand Your Ground law was to blame for the acquittal. Jury instructions mean the difference between a guilty verdict and a criminal on the street, and the Zimmerman case is deadly proof of it.