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UPDATED: Tuesday, October 18, 10:30 a.m. EST

Matthew Apperson, 37, who in September was convicted of attempted second-degree murder in a road rage incident involving George Zimmerman, has been sentenced to 20 years in prison, reports The Orlando Sentinel:

Circuit Judge Debra S. Nelson handed down the state-mandated minimum: 20 years for shooting at another person with a gun.

Moments before Apperson was sentenced, his wife, Lisa, accused the judge of making unfair rulings and allowing an innocent man to go to jail. 

[…]

On Sept. 9, 2014, the two men shouted at each other from separate vehicles. Apperson accused Zimmerman of threatening him and called the authorities but did not prosecute.

SOURCE: Orlando Sentinel | PHOTO CREDIT: Getty


Road Rage Victim: George Zimmerman Said He Was Going To Shoot Me Dead!

George Zimmerman — the former Florida Neighborhood Watch volunteer, who fatally shot unarmed teen Trayvon Martin dead two years ago — is now being accused of threatening to kill another motorist in a fit of road rage, according to the Orlando Sentinel.

Matthew Apperson of Winter Springs, Florida called 911 Tuesday morning to report that he had been menaced on the road by Zimmerman, who had approached the side of his vehicle in a pickup truck to ask why he had pointed at him. Apperson, who had recognized Zimmerman, told police it was at that point his harasser asked, “Do you know who I am?” then reportedly threatened to kill him.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, Apperson’s distressed call took place as follows:

“There was a passenger going, “Hey what’s your problem? Why are you shaking your finger?” I said, “Excuse me?…I looked over and it’s George Zimmerman who was the driver and they were threatening to kick my [expletive] and to shoot me! I said what are you going to do? Shoot me?”

The dispatcher then asks, “And you know this was George Zimmerman?” The man responds, “Oh, for a fact!”

“He then came up, in his Ridgeline (pickup), this will be on camera, toward my car, almost hit my car, an aggressive move and said he was going to shoot me dead,” Apperson told the dispatcher.

“Are they still there,” asked the dispatcher. “They peeled off,” said Apperson.

The dispatcher then asked Apperson, “Just confirming this was all verbal. You didn’t see a gun or anything?  This was just voiced to you?”

He replied, “That’s all verbal.  He did not flash a gun.”

A couple of days after the heated altercation, Apperson claims he saw Zimmerman again near his place of employment.  Apperson summoned police but failed to press charges against the man who was acquitted last year of second-degree murder in the shooting death of Martin.

According to reports, Zimmerman appeared at ease when he was approached and questioned by the officers who responded to Apperson’s call.  He told the policemen his being in Apperson’s area was purely coincidental, as he had just made a purchase and had a receipt to back up his story.

The officers even found a handgun in Zimmerman’s possession but gave it back to him. The entire exchange between Zimmerman and the police, reportedly, took about eight minutes.