The neighbor who attacked US Sen Rand Paul ‘lost his temper’ over yard debris on the property line between their homes before the altercation, a court filing in the federal case against him reveals.
Dr. Rene Boucher is asking a judge to grant him probation after pleading guilty to tacking the Republican politician in Bowling Green, Kentucky, last year and breaking six of his ribs.
Prosecutors are seeking a 21-month prison sentence for the 59-year-old.
A sentencing memorandum filed on Friday by Boucher’s attorney says Paul repeatedly placed ‘unsightly’ yard debris near the property line.
Dr. Rene Boucher is asking a judge to grant him probation after pleading guilty to tacking the Republican politician in Bowling Green, Kentucky, last year and breaking six of his ribs
A sentencing memorandum filed on Friday by Boucher’s attorney says Paul (pictured) repeatedly placed ‘unsightly’ yard debris near the property line
On the day before the November 3 attack, Boucher burned some debris left by Paul, according to the document obtained by the Daily News of Bowling Green.
The next day, Paul placed more debris on the spot where the pile had been burned, it says.
Boucher has pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and is scheduled to be sentenced Friday.
After pleading guilty in March, Boucher, a retired doctor, was released on a $25,000 unsecured bond and is not allowed to contact Paul or his family. He has also given up the right to appeal.
Paul was mowing his yard in November, 2017, while wearing headphones when Boucher approached him from behind and dragged him to the ground.
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, 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.
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.
There is a group of trees blocking Paul’s home from Boucher’s home in the Rivergreen gated community
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
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
This is the picturesque private lake that forms the centerpiece of their upscale gated community
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.
Property records confirm that Democrat-voting Boucher has 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.
Boucher was arrested on November 3, 2018, after attacking Rand at his home in Bowling Green, Kentucky
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.
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.
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.
Rand and Boucher’s well-to-do Rivergreen gated community was designed by Bill Skaggs, 74, a longtime Republican activist and successful property developer.
He purchased the 300-acre site south of Bowling Green for $176,000 in 1995 before carving it into 79 separate lots, with prices ranging from $40,000 to a quarter of a million dollars.
Homebuilders were asked to comply with 13 pages of regulations, but he preferred to do without ‘ugly fences’ whenever possible, instead letting each property flow seamlessly into the picturesque surroundings.
Today homes there can fetch up to as much as $2.5million, especially properties with direct views of the jewel in the development’s crown: a 17-acre freshwater lake, as deep as 30ft in places.
Skaggs said he knew Paul through his father, former Texas Rep. Ron Paul, and eventually persuaded the married ophthalmologist to settle in Kentucky, where his wife Kelley grew up.
He also welcomed Boucher, a highly qualified anesthesiologist, with open arms and said he had never been anything other than a ‘very good neighbor’.
The ex-physician got his medical degree from Des Moines University College of Osteopathic Medicine and once worked at the same Bowling Green medical facility as Paul, though it’s not clear if they ever interacted.
He is also the inventor of the Therm-a-Vest and went on QVC to advertise the $30 product in 2005 which he was inspired to develop after badly injuring his neck in a motorbike accident.
Boucher divorced his receptionist ex-wife Lisa, 63, in 2008 blaming ‘irretrievable’ differences for the break-up of their 22-year marriage.
Divorce records indicate that by 2008 Boucher was not able to work and was receiving disability benefits.
His wife was awarded a second home they owned in Bowling Green while the couple split their savings, a fleet of Lexus cars, and agreed to share the proceeds of their Rivergreen house when it eventually sold.
They have two grown up children, Evan and Danielle, who is friends on Facebook with Paul’s son William.
Boucher has marketed his property as high as $849,500 but tax assessors say the 7,500 sq ft, two-story home is actually worth $740,000.