Rand Paul’s attacker has pleaded guilty to assaulting the Senator on the front lawn of his Kentucky home.
Rene Boucher, 59, is facing jail for tackling the Republican politician in Bowling Green last year and breaking six of his ribs.
Assaulting a member of Congress is a felony and carries a sentence of 21 months behind bars, WBKO reported.
Boucher, a retired doctor, was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond on Friday and is not allowed to contact Paul or his family. He has also given up the right to appeal.
Sen. Paul was mowing his yard in November, 2017, while wearing headphones when Boucher approached him from behind and dragged him to the ground.
Rand Paul’s attacker has pleaded guilty to assaulting the Senator on the front lawn of his Kentucky home. Rand is pictured on Capitol Hill earlier this week
Rene Boucher, Paul’s attacker, is seen walking out of US District Court in Bowling Green, Kentucky on Friday after pleading guilty to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress
Boucher, a retired doctor, was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond on Friday and is not allowed to contact Paul or his family. He has also given up the right to appeal
Boucher (mugshot above) is facing jail for tackling the Republican politician in Bowling Green last year and breaking six of his ribs
He was taken to hospital with multiple fractures and later sought treatment for pneumonia.
Court documents say Boucher saw Paul stacking more brush and ‘had enough.’
The two had an ongoing dispute over yard maintenance for a few months.
Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker, has recommended Boucher serve no jail time.
He also characterized the attack as a dispute that boiled over that had nothing to do with politics.
Shortly after the attack, it was learned that Boucher held a grudge against Paul because he felt the Kentucky senator was spoiling his view and thus bringing down the property of his home.
Boucher, 59, told Paul in the wake of the mauling that he hadn’t been able to sell his $740,000 house for ten years because the congressman’s trees were ‘in the way’.
It’s believed Boucher was referring to woodland at the back of Paul’s property that blocks the doctor’s views of the picturesque private lake that forms the centerpiece of their upscale gated community.
While federal prosecutors will recommend a nearly two-year prison sentence, Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker (seen left alongside Boucher in court on November 9) said in January he will argue that his client should not serve any jail time
Friends say it could explain why the retired anesthesiologist has failed to find a buyer for his five-bedroom, 1.36-acre home which is nonetheless described on property websites as ‘overlooking’ the desirable water feature.
Boucher’s alleged grievance was relayed to the media by another of Paul’s neighbors, Alicia Stivers, the first person who saw the bloodied and dazed lawmaker after the November 3 assault in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
Stivers, 54, confirmed that account to DailyMail.com days after the assault.
Property records confirm that Democrat-voting Boucher has indeed put his house on the market five times over the past decade without success, at one point becoming embroiled in a messy lawsuit when a prospective buyer pulled the plug at the last minute.
A look at boundary maps and overhead photographs also shows many of the ‘offending’ trees are on Paul’s land – although one realtor pal told DailyMail.com the Boucher property probably didn’t sell simply because it was overpriced.
The realtor’s comments and property records lend credence to suggestions that Boucher’s unruly behavior owes more to a simmering territorial grievance than a political feud, despite the pair’s apparent ideological differences.
It also contradicts previous reports that the dust up was down to something as trivial as 54-year-old dad-of-three Paul blowing lawn trimmings into his next-door neighbor’s yard.
Sen. Paul was mowing his yard in November, 2017, while wearing headphones when Boucher approached him from behind and dragged him to the ground. The front yard of Paul’s home is seen in the above photo
Boucher, a divorced father-of-two, was originally charged by the state of Kentucky with a fourth-degree misdemeanor assault due to the relatively minor injuries.
He pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charge.
The federal government then added the more seriously felony charge of assaulting a member of Congress.
Boucher pleaded guilty in a deal struck with federal prosecutors this past January.
While federal prosecutors will recommend a nearly two-year prison sentence, Boucher’s attorney said in January he will argue that his client should not serve any jail time.
Baker said his client is ‘a good and a decent person’ who made a ‘big mistake.’
‘Everyone needs to remember, first and foremost, that this is a dispute between two neighbors,’ Baker said.
‘It was not and has never been politically motivated. And if this very same incident had occurred between two private persons, neither of whom were a congressman or a senator, we wouldn’t be in federal court.’
Boucher is ‘very meticulous’ about how he maintains his yard, while Paul takes ‘a much different approach’ to the upkeep of his property, Baker said.
Shortly after the attack, it was learned that Boucher held a grudge against Paul because he felt the Kentucky senator was spoiling his view and thus bringing down the property of his home. Boucher’s home is seen in the above photo
Boucher, 59, told Paul in the wake of the attack that he hadn’t been able to sell his $740,000 house for ten years because the congressman’s trees were ‘in the way’. The image above shows the rear of Boucher’s home
He would likely have faced federal charges and the threat of a ten-year stretch if investigators found evidence Paul was pummeled for political purposes.
The two men’s lots meet on the corner of two private streets and their houses are about 250ft apart, separated by a lawn rather than a wall or fence.
It was this ‘no man’s land’ that Boucher charged across on November 4, catching Paul unawares as he stepped off his lawnmower before slamming him to the ground.
The seriousness of the assault became apparent days later when the Libertarian former presidential candidate revealed he suffered six broken ribs and a buildup of fluid around the lung known as a pleural effusion.