[TigersEye]

If there were no “stand your ground” law in Florida, the answer would be “maybe” because whether Zimmerman acted in self-defense would typically be put to a jury. But “stand your ground” makes self-defense effectively irrelevant because it is not a self-defense rule, it is a doctrine of immunity that explicitly forbids prosecution of a person, even if he or she uses deadly force, so long as there is a reasonable fear of “serious bodily harm” OR if such person is enduring a “felony” that involves the use of “force.”

I don't believe those statements are true. Even under ordinary self-defense laws it would be illegal to arrest and charge someone without probable cause to believe that the person had acted without a "reasonable man" standard of belief that he was threatened with death or serious bodily harm.

An SYG law only negates the caveat that one must also believe, by the reasonable man standard, that he had no means of escape. It doesn't negate the standards required for probable cause that law enforcement must abide by.

[2ndDivisionVet]

In Florida, the law reads this way: "a person is justified in using deadly force (and does not have a duty to retreat) if he or she reasonably believes that such force is necessary to prevent the imminent commission of a forcible felony, or to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm to himself or herself or another." [Florida Statute Section 776.012.] "The use of deadly force is further justified when a person is resisting any attempt to murder such person or to commit any felony upon him or her or upon or in any dwelling house in which the person is located." [Florida Statutes Section 782.02]

[Cboldt]

-- An SYG law only negates the caveat that one must also believe, by the reasonable man standard, that he had no means of escape. It doesn't negate the standards required for probable cause that law enforcement must abide by. --

There is a sloppy usage in the press, that SYG also means statutory immunity from criminal prosecution and civil suit.