Date: April 14th, 2012 11:25 AM
Author: NoBama (Alpha As Fuck)

Since it seems no one has actually looked at the law in Florida, I thought I would add some value to this board and poast it:

"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."

Not listening to a 911 operator and following/confronting someone is not an unlawful act. So if that's all Zimmerman did before Martin started pounding his head on the pavement, then it looks like Zimmerman was acting in self defense.

Now let's look at the immunity vs. affirmative defense issue:

"(1) A person who uses force as permitted [the above section] is justified in using such force and is immune from criminal prosecution...for the use of such force [...]. As used in this subsection, the term “criminal prosecution” includes arresting, detaining in custody, and charging or prosecuting the defendant.

(2) A law enforcement agency...may not arrest the person for using force unless it determines that there is probable cause that the force that was used was unlawful."

Lastly, for good measure, assume Zimmerman did do something unlawful like shove Martin:

"The justification described [above] is not available to a person who:

(2) Initially provokes the use of force against himself or herself, unless:

(a) Such force is so great that the person reasonably believes that he or she is in imminent danger of death or great bodily harm and that he or she has exhausted every reasonable means to escape such danger other than the use of force which is likely to cause death or great bodily harm to the assailant."

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=1923726&forum_id=#20460380)