Federal prosecutors say they’ll recommend a 21-month prison sentence for the man accused of tackling Senator Rand Paul in his front yard.
The court document also delves into the cause of the attack last November that left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs.
The document says Rene Boucher saw Paul stacking more brush and ‘had enough.’
Federal prosecutors say they’ll recommend a 21-month prison sentence for the man accused of tackling Senator Rand Paul in his front yard
The court document also delves into the cause of the attack last November that left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs. The document says Rene Boucher saw Paul stacking more brush and ‘had enough.’
The two had an ongoing dispute over yard maintenance for a few months.
Boucher has been charged with assaulting a member of Congress as part of a federal plea agreement.
A date has not yet been set for his guilty plea. Boucher signed the plea agreement Friday.
Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker, says he’ll recommend that Boucher serve no time in prison.
Baker characterized the attack as a dispute between two neighbors that boiled over. He said Monday that it had nothing to do with politics.
‘Assaulting a member of Congress is an offense we take very seriously,’J Minkler, US Attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, said Friday.
‘Those who choose to commit such an act will be held accountable.’
Baker characterized the attack as a dispute between two neighbors that boiled over. He said Monday that it had nothing to do with politics. Pictured is Boucher’s home
Paul and Boucher are longtime neighbors in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Paul’s home in Bowling Green, where he was attacked, is pictured
Boucher’s attorney says he is ‘very regretful’ about the attack and that it had to do with the upkeep of their yards.
Paul and Boucher are longtime neighbors in Bowling Green, Kentucky.
‘This is over a matter that most people would regard as trivial,’ Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker, said in a phone interview Friday. ‘It has to do with yards and the maintenance of those.’
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.
‘It all goes to large piles of leaves and branches and yard clutter that were placed on the property line,’ Baker said.
Some residents of the gated neighborhood had speculated the attack was motivated by a dispute over yard debris- but Paul’s office rejected that.
Paul told the Fox News Channel in November that ultimately, the motive does not matter.
‘This is over a matter that most people would regard as trivial,’ Boucher’s attorney, Matt Baker, said in a phone interview Friday. ‘It has to do with yards and the maintenance of those’
Boucher, a retired anesthesiologist in his late 50s, already faces a misdemeanor assault charge in state court in Kentucky. He has pleaded not guilty to that charge.
Baker said Friday that he’s hopeful the state charge will be dismissed now that Boucher has reached the plea agreement on the federal charge.
Paul, a former presidential candidate, was attacked Nov. 3 while mowing his lawn at his home. A close friend of Paul’s said the senator had gotten off his riding lawn mower to remove a limb when he was tackled from behind. Paul has said he never saw the attacker because he was facing downhill and wearing ear protection from the noise of his lawn mower.
He returned to Washington less than two weeks later but developed pneumonia when he returned to Kentucky. Paul has since said he’s recovering well from the attack.
Baker said Friday the attack was ‘completely, 100 percent out of character’ for Boucher. He said his client is looking forward to getting the case resolved.
Minkler’s office was assigned the case after a U.S. attorney in Kentucky recused himself. The case was investigated by the FBI’s Louisville office.