News

Actions

Rand Paul Attacker Challenges Appeal Of 30-Day Sentence

Posted at 10:01 AM, Jul 10, 2018
and last updated 2018-07-10 10:01:11-04

(Bowling Green Daily News) — The attorney for the neighbor convicted of assaulting U.S. Sen. Rand Paul last November has challenged the federal government’s appeal of the 30-day sentence imposed on his client.

The Bowling Green Daily News reports here that Rene Boucher’s lawyer in the case, Matt Baker, filed a motion Friday with the appeals court seeking to dismiss the appeal.

Boucher, 60, plead guilty last month in U.S. District Court to assault of member of Congress and was ordered to serve 30 days in prison and fined $10,000. 

He was accused of tackling Paul last Nov. 3 in what has been described in court records as a running dispute over yard debris near their shared property line.

In June, the special prosecutor appealed the 30-day sentence as too lenient.

However, Baker argues that the federal government had waived its right to appeal by agreeing ahead of time to a sentence on the low end in exchange for Boucher’s guilty plea.

"It is completely disingenuous, on the one hand, for the government to agree not to oppose a defendant’s request that a particular sentence or sentencing range is appropriate, and then — on the other hand — to appeal the sentence because it is not draconian enough to suit the government," Baker said in his motion to dismiss.