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Neighbor Who Attacked Rand Paul Sentenced to 30 Days in Prison

Rand Paul / Getty Images
June 15, 2018

The man who pleaded guilty to assaulting Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) in his front yard has been sentenced to 30 days in prison.

In one of last year's strangest sagas, Paul's neighbor Rene Boucher tackled the senator from behind as he finished mowing the lawn of his Bowling Green home on Nov. 3. The assault left Paul with six broken ribs, lung contusions, and ultimately two bouts of pneumonia. He described the recovery as a "living hell."

Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and got 30 days in prison on Friday, despite prosecutors seeking 21 months, the Associated Press reported.

"No one deserves to be violently assaulted," Paul said in a statement. "A felony conviction is appropriate and hopefully will deter the attacker from further violence. The original 21-month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment. I commend the FBI and Department of Justice for treating this violent, pre-meditated assault with the seriousness it deserves."

Boucher said he lost his temper and attacked Paul—who said he had not spoken with Boucher in years—because he stacked yard debris near his property line, according to the AP and CBS News.

Boucher said he spoke with members of the homeowner's association about his complaint, but a Paul spokesman says the senator didn't hear from the association. Paul's statement says "any description of this attack that implies a 'yard dispute' justifies such violence and misses the point."

U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani said the attack was a "dispute between neighbors" and an "isolated incident," saying it wasn't politically motivated. Paul is a libertarian Republican, while Boucher is a registered Democrat.

UPDATE: Saturday, 5:56 P.M.: The Associated Press initially reported Trump had called the sentence appropriate. He actually referred to the felony conviction as appropriate but said the 21-month sentence requested for Boucher would have been the appropriate punishment.

Published under: Rand Paul