I do not believe that is correct, because I heard the Judge say it when she was reading the law that was going back with the Jury to deliberate on. She mentioned stand your ground and self defense.
Here's the generally biased but here quite fair New York Times on the trial...
In Zimmerman Case, Self-Defense Was Hard to Topple
Classic self-defense, Mr. OMara said.
Soon after Mr. Zimmerman was arrested, there appeared to be a chance that the defense would invoke a provision of Florida self-defense law known as Stand Your Ground. Ultimately it was not part of Mr. OMaras courtroom strategy, though it did play a pivotal role immediately after the shooting.
The provision, enacted by the Florida Legislature in 2005 and since adopted by more than 20 other states, allows people who fear great harm or death not to retreat, even if they can safely do so. If an attacker is retreating, people are still permitted to use deadly force.
The provision also allows a defendant claiming self-defense to seek civil and criminal immunity at a pretrial hearing.
Mr. OMara said he did not rely on Stand Your Ground as a defense because Mr. Zimmerman had no option to retreat. A pretrial immunity hearing, which prosecutors said they had been expecting, would only have divulged his case. So Mr. OMara gambled on a jury trial.
That was a brilliant strategic move, Mr. Sharpstein said. It precluded the state from previewing the defense.
But Stand Your Ground did play a role when the police were contemplating whether to charge Mr. Zimmerman, said Tamara Lave, an associate professor of law at the University of Miami.
Under the law, if the police believe there is probable cause that someone acted in self-defense, as Mr. Zimmerman said he had, they are not allowed to make an arrest, she said. The self-defense claim also may have affected how thoroughly the police interviewed witnesses, preserved the crime scene and screened Mr. Zimmerman.
Eventually, the police arrested Mr. Zimmerman, but only after Gov. Rick Scott of Florida had appointed Ms. Corey as prosecutor.
At a news conference after the verdict, Ms. Corey said prosecutors had been hindered by the fact they inherited the case well into the investigation. Still, she forged ahead.
Read the entire article. Particularly the end.