Teacher Who Urinated in Back Yard 'Extremely Relieved' at Jury's Verdict

A Michigan teacher on paid leave since his arrest last spring on an indecent exposure charge is “extremely relieved” a jury believed his testimony he was only urinating in his own back yard, his attorney said.

Stephen Anthony Merring, 55, was arrested last April after a neighbor complained that he had exposed himself. The charge was a misdemeanor, but had the elementary physical education teacher for the Hastings Area School System been convicted, he could have lost his teaching certificate, the MLive/The Grand Rapids Press reports.

Merring’s attorney, Attorney Fil Iorio, said his client was working in his basement, where there’s no restroom, and stepped outside to relieve himself. Merring testified that he didn’t think anyone could see him through the thicket.

During the short trial, which only lasted a few hours, Iorio argued that “peeing in your back yard is not a crime. This was not an exposure case. … He peed outside, unaware his neighbor was outside.”

Merring had taught at the school for nearly 20 years and had a “stellar record” until the charge, Iorio said.

He is eager to return to work, according to the attorney.

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Patch file photo