Under FLA's Stand Your Ground Law, An African American Man Can Shoot Zimmerman

[spin]

20. No. He has to have reason to expect an imminent attack that would ...

cause serious injury or death.

The 2011 Florida Statutes
JUSTIFIABLE USE OF FORCE

776.013 Home protection; use of deadly force; presumption of fear of death or great bodily harm.—

1) A person is presumed to have held a reasonable fear of imminent peril of death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another when using defensive force that is intended or likely to cause death or great bodily harm to another if:

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(3) A person who is not engaged in an unlawful activity and who is attacked in any other place where he or she has a right to be has no duty to retreat and has the right to stand his or her ground and meet force with force, including deadly force if he or she reasonably believes it is necessary to do so to prevent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another or to prevent the commission of a forcible felony.
http://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&Search_String=&URL=0700-0799/0776/Sections/0776.013.html

Use of Deadly Force for Lawful Self-Defense

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2. The amount of force that you use to defend yourself must not be excessive under the circumstances.

Never use deadly force in self-defense unless you are afraid that if you don't, you will be killed or seriously injured;
Verbal threats never justify your use of deadly force;
If you think someone has a weapon and will use it unless you kill him, be sure you are right and are not overreacting to the situation.

3. The law permits you to carry a concealed weapon for self-defense. Carrying a concealed weapon does not make you a free-lance policeman or a "good samaritan."
http://licgweb.doacs.state.fl.us/weapons/self_defense.html

I suspect the law will be revised in the future so as to make it far easier to prosecute someone who uses the "Stand Your Ground" defense when there are reasonable questions that ask if the individual acted reasonably. Several jury trials have already occurred and in some the defense was successful and in others it failed and the defendant was convicted.

In the Travon Martin/George Zimmerman incident, I can't for the life of me understand why Zimmerman hasn't been charged. I fault the police department more than I do the law as, while I am not an attorney, it seems that Zimmerman pursued Martin after being told not to confront him. Chasing someone down is in no way standing your ground. The more reports that I read and hear on the news, the more I feel that the investigation was poorly conducted and that the Sanford police department is either incompetent or racist.