Last November, Rene Boucher decided to attack his neighbor from behind and break six of his ribs. That neighbor was Senator Rand Paul.

First, Boucher pled not guilty.

His defense? Boucher hated the way Senator Paul, his neighbor of 17 years, was cleaning up his yard.

Boucher found the pile of tree limbs and other flotsam “unsightly,” according to new court documents first reported by The Associated Press. Even though it wasn’t on his property, Boucher could see the pile from his back patio.

It sat there for weeks.

In October, Boucher had the branches loaded into portable dumpsters and carried off.

But then, other piles appeared — two of them.

Boucher poured gasoline on the woodpiles and incinerated them, giving himself second-degree burns in the process.

But Paul’s autumn yard work was not complete.

The next day, the senator blew leaves into Boucher’s yard with his lawnmower. He made another branch pile in the same spot as the previous ones.

The yard debris allegations are a “false narrative,” said Paul’s Deputy Chief of Staff Sergio Gor. In the decade preceding the incident, Paul had never spoken with the man who attacked him, Gor said.

But Boucher attacked.

“As Dr. Boucher has stated throughout, he lost his temper and tackled Rand Paul as Paul was carrying branches from another location on his property and placing them on the property line,” the court memorandum from Boucher’s defense team said.

The blindside tackle left Paul with a half-dozen broken ribs and injured lungs. He later developed pneumonia and missed time in Washington to recover.

The neighbors didn’t buy the yard work excuse, and Boucher pleaded guilty last March.

Let’s just say that today’s sentence is not what one would expect to see, given the severity of the injury involved.

Rene Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in federal prison for assaulting U.S. Senator Rand Paul, R-Ky.

Rene Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher says the attack was triggered by Paul stacking yard debris near his property line. Paul suffered broken ribs in the November attack.

Along with prison time, Boucher will also have one year of supervised release and a $10,000 fine. He is not allowed to have any intentional contact with the Paul family, and he must perform 100 hours of community service.

Federal prosecutors tried to get a 21-month prison sentence, and Boucher had asked for probation.

A few notes:
1) This guy wanted probation for a violent assault, because his lawyer said he was “a pillar of his community, a solid citizen, a family man and a devout Christian.” Notably left out of that list: good neighbor.

2) I sincerely hope his community service involves cleaning up parks, since I’m not sure he should be around people.

3) Rand Paul isn’t pleased.

Rene Boucher – neighbor who attacked Rand Paul – has been sentenced to 30 days in jail. Paul responds: "No one deserves to be violently assaulted. A felony conviction is appropriate … The original 21 month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment."

— Manu Raju (@mkraju) June 15, 2018

4) This is a very good point, but I think it means Boucher should have had a stiffer sentence.
https://twitter.com/RepThomasMassie/status/1007707254873837568
If we leave the speculation about potential political motivation aside, have we really gotten so unhinged in society that we can no longer – oh, I don’t know – TALK TO OUR NEXT-DOOR NEIGHBORS if there is something going on, instead of going full-out rage monster and attacking people from behind?

I am afraid of the answer.