
Rene Boucher appears in Warren District Court in November 2017 BOWLING GREEN, Ky. (WBKO) - Rene Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in custody of the bureau of prisons followed by one year of supervised release on Friday, after pleading guilty to assaulting a U.S. congressman in March.
He was forced to pay a $10,000 fine and will complete 100 hours of community service.
Boucher will also not be permitted to make any sort of intentional contact with the Paul family.
According to sworn testimony, Rene Boucher tackled Sen. Paul after a dispute about tree limbs piled on shared property line back in November 2017.
In court Friday, Boucher noted on multiple occasions he would remove a pile of tree limbs from the shared property line and another pile would appear days later. Boucher even said on one previous occasion, he burned himself trying to set fire to the limbs.
The U.S. government argued in court that Sen. Paul had no idea that Boucher had an issue with he or his landscaping, because Boucher never approached Paul or his family about it.
Sen. Paul suffered multiple broken ribs after the assault which took several months from which to recover.
The court did not order any financial restitution, and at the time none was asked for from the Paul Family, although Boucher mentioned in court that he would be willing to take responsibility for Senator Paul's medical bills.
Boucher waived his right to appeal and he will report to prison upon notice from the Department of Corrections.
Boucher's attorney said his client is ready to put the situation behind him.
"He's lived 60 years without a hiccup," said Matthew J. Baker, "and this was unfortunately a very bad mistake to have been made. He's very sorry about it."
Baker, speaking on his client's behalf, said this case has greatly affected Boucher.
"I think this is a real example of how a momentary lapse in judgement, just 20 to 30 seconds of poor decision making can have such a profound impact, not only on Senator Paul, but also Dr. Boucher," said Baker.
Boucher testified in court that he was embarrassed about the whole situation, and according to his attorney, he has already paid his $10,000 fine.
Sen. Paul released the following statement following the sentencing:
"No one deserves to be violently assaulted. A felony conviction with jail time is appropriate and hopefully will deter the attacker from further violence. I commend the FBI and Department of Justice for treating this violent, pre-meditated assault with the seriousness it deserves."
Sen. Paul also believed jail time was appropriate, but not the length of the final sentence.
"We believe the original 21 month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment."
Boucher attacked Paul back in November of last year as Paul was mowing his lawn.
Poster Comment:
Only 30 days for a congresscritter beat down? A cheap price to pay, which may make it worthwhile for some.
The bare-knuckles congressional reform option.
Senator Paul's injuries were much worse than this biased article lets on, he developed severe respiratory problems and pneumonia as a result of the broken ribs. There was no "despite" over anything, Boucher never mentioned a thing about Rand's landscaping, or even said one word to the Paul's in over 10 years.