Suspect in Zimmerman case on trial in porch-urination dispute

A Seminole County Circuit judge Monday seated a jury that will decide whether a Winter Springs man urinated on his neighbor’s porch two months after being accused of shooting at George Zimmerman in a roadrage incident.

Judge Debra Krause scheduled the misdemeanor disorderly conduct trial to begin today. Jurors will decide the case. Dressed in a suit and tie Monday, Apperson sat in court for the proceedings.

The 36-year-old mental patient has been behind bars since July 31 — on a judge’s order — because the new allegations came when he was free on bond for the Zimmerman case.

Apperson’s next-door neighbor of 13 years, Sharee Rivera, learned of the June 11 urination incident after the pool man disclosed it to her.

During an August court hearing, she told a judge she’s been subject to harassment from Apperson for years.

He has poured hot oil on her plants, blown cigarette smoke at her, stared at her and tossed paper in her direction, according to her testimony in a Seminole courtroom.

At one point, her boyfriend was arrested for striking Apperson.

As the misdemeanor case progresses, Apperson is also awaiting trial for his May 11 confrontation with George Zimmerman as the pair drove down Lake Mary Boulevard.

Apperson is charged with attempted second-degree murder, aggravated assault and shooting into an occupied vehicle for allegedly firing one round from a .357-caliber handgun into Zimmerman’s car from his own.

Zimmerman, the Neighborhood Watch volunteer acquitted two years ago of murdering unarmed black 17-year-old Trayvon Martin, suffered minor facial injuries likely caused by flying glass or other debris from the shooting.

Trayvon’s death prompted civil-rights marches in Sanford and beyond.

echerney@tribpub.com or 407-420-5735