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A neighbor of Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky was sentenced Friday to 30 days in prison after pleading guilty to felony assault for tackling the lawmaker last year, a spokesman for federal prosecutors said. The attack was fueled by irritation over a pile of debris.

The neighbor, Rene A. Boucher, 60, of Bowling Green, Ky., was also sentenced to one year of probation and a $10,000 fine, said Tim Horty, a spokesman for the United States attorney for the Southern District of Indiana, in a phone interview.

In a statement, Mr. Paul said that he believed a conviction with prison time was appropriate, and he hoped it would deter Mr. Boucher from any future violence.

No one deserves to be violently assaulted, Mr. Paul said. I commend the F.B.I. and Department of Justice for treating this violent, premeditated assault with the seriousness it deserves.

He is very relieved to have this last phase of the court proceedings over with, said Matthew J. Baker, a lawyer for Mr. Boucher. Hes very much looking forward to getting this over with once and for all.

Mr. Baker said the defense had no plans to appeal the sentence.

The attack in November left Mr. Paul with several broken ribs and precipitated a case of pneumonia. It kept him out of Washington for nearly two weeks while lawmakers debated the Republican tax bill, his spokesman said.

Mr. Boucher, a retired anesthesiologist, pleaded guilty to a felony count of assaulting a member of Congress resulting in a personal injury, a charge that carries a maximum term of 10 years in prison. Prosecutors had been seeking 21 months of jail time for Mr. Boucher.

Assaulting a member of Congress is an offense we take very seriously, Josh J. Minkler, the United States attorney who handled the case, said in a news release. Those who choose to violate the law will be aggressively prosecuted in federal court.

On Nov. 3, the day of the altercation, Mr. Paul was mowing his lawn in Bowling Green while wearing headphones when Mr. Boucher ran over and tackled the lawmaker, according to a news release from federal prosecutors. The neighbor said he had had enough after watching Mr. Paul stack a pile of brush near the property line between their two yards, the release said.

Mr. Baker said in an interview earlier this week that Mr. Pauls tendency to pile brush near his neighbors property had been a consistent irritant to his client. The day before the attack, Mr. Baker said, Mr. Boucher had decided to burn a pile of brush placed near his land suffering second-degree burns in the process. The Bowling Green Daily News first reported these details regarding the lead-up to the attack.

This issue had been festering for several months, Mr. Baker said in an interview. Unfortunately it ended the way it did.

Mr. Baker said his client, a registered Democrat, had no political motives for attacking Mr. Paul, a Republican. The defense had pushed for a sentence without jail time, citing a lack of prior criminal charges. Mr. Baker said that Mr. Boucher was deeply remorseful over the incident.

Mr. Pauls aides have disputed the defenses characterization that the lawmaker and his neighbor had a longstanding conflict over their yards, calling the attack a premeditated assault.

Any description of this attack that implies a yard dispute justifies such violence and misses the point, Sergio Gor, a spokesman for Mr. Paul, said in a statement earlier this week. He said Mr. Paul had no contact with his neighbor in the decade before the assault.

Mr. Bouchers case was transferred to a United States attorneys office in the Southern District of Indiana after federal prosecutors originally assigned to prosecute the case in Kentucky were recused.

A misdemeanor assault charge filed against Mr. Boucher in a state court in Kentucky was dismissed after he pleaded guilty to the federal charge, said Mr. Horty, the Indiana district spokesman.

Thomas Kaplan contributed reporting.

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Rand Pauls Neighbor Is Sentenced to 30 Days in Prison ...

Rene Boucher, 59, (left) was sentenced Friday to 30 days in federal prison for attacking Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul. (Associated Press)

The neighbor convicted of violently attacking Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Paul outside the senator's Kentucky home last year was sentenced Friday to 30 days in federal prison.

Rene Boucher, 59, was also ordered Friday to one year of supervised release, a $10,000 fine and 100 hours of community service, according to WBKO. He was also ordered to have no contact with the Paul family.

"No one deserves to be violently assaulted, Paul said in a statement Friday. 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."

Paul also said he thinks Boucher should face a longer sentence: "Theoriginal 21 month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment."

The attack left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs.His recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia.

Boucher pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher had asked for probation.

The senator told police that the incident occurred when his neighbor came onto his property and tackled him from behind, forcing him to the ground and causing pain.

Boucher claimed he tackled Paul over agitation about piles of brush on Pauls property. Boucher also claims Paul used his lawnmower on the same day as the attack and blew some leaves onto his property, sparking his outrage.

But the senator's office pushed back against the notion the neighbors had an ongoing dispute.

There was no longstanding dispute. This description is untrue, a spokesman for Paul said. It is impossible to have a dispute when no words of disagreement were ever spoken -- neither immediately nor at any other time before the attack occurred.

Fox News Mike Emanuel, Lukas Mikelionis, and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Alex Pappas is a politics reporter at FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @AlexPappas.

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Neighbor who attacked Rand Paul sentenced to 30 days in ...

Rene Boucher, left, is scheduled to be sentenced Friday for his assault on U.S. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. (Associated Press)

A neighbor convicted of violently attacking U.S. Sen. Rand Paul outside the senator's Kentucky home last year is scheduled to be sentenced in federal court Friday.

The attack left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs.His recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia.

The attack left the Republican lawmaker with six broken ribs. His recovery was complicated by fluid and blood around the lungs and recurrent pneumonia.

Rene Boucher, 59, pleaded guilty in March to a federal charge of assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher has asked for probation, but federal prosecutors indicated they will seek a 21-month prison sentence.

The senator told police that the incident occurred when his neighbor came onto his property and tackled him from behind, forcing him to the ground and causing pain.

The incident stems from Boucher being agitated about piles of brush on Pauls property. The neighbor allegedly took the matter into his own hands and paid dumpsters to haul the piles and set fire in the yard to destroy them.

Boucher also claims Paul used his lawnmower on the same day as the attack and blew some leaves onto his property, sparking his outrage.

The New York Times initially reported the attack occurred following a long-running landscaping disagreement.

But the senator's office corrected Bouchers account and the Times report in a statement this week, saying that before Paul was violently attacked from behind, he had no conversations or discussions with the attacker.

There was no longstanding dispute. This description is untrue. It is impossible to have a dispute when no words of disagreement were ever spoken -- neither immediately nor at any other time before the attack occurred, he continued.

There was no longstanding dispute. This description is untrue. It is impossible to have a dispute when no words of disagreement were ever spoken."

The attack was a pre-meditated assault that broke six of the Senator's ribs and was complicated by fluid and blood around the lung and recurrent pneumonia. Any description of this attack that implies a yard dispute justifies such violence misses the point.

Fox News Brooke Singman and the Associated Press contributed to this report.

Lukas Mikelionis is a reporter for FoxNews.com. Follow him on Twitter@LukasMikelionis.

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Neighbor who assaulted US Sen. Rand Paul faces sentencing

Sen. Rand Paul was tackled by his neighbor, Rene Boucher, in Kentucky last November. On Friday, Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in prison. Aaron P. Bernstein/Getty Images hide caption

Sen. Rand Paul was tackled by his neighbor, Rene Boucher, in Kentucky last November. On Friday, Boucher was sentenced to 30 days in prison.

The neighbor who attacked Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, breaking six of his ribs, was sentenced to 30 days in prison by a federal court on Friday.

It was a November day in the city of Bowling Green when Rene Boucher, a physician, says he lost his temper over debris that had piled up near the property line between his home and Paul's. When he saw the Republican senator outside, he tackled him resulting in broken ribs and bouts of pneumonia.

Boucher was released on a $7,500 bond after spending nearly a day at the county jail, NPR's Bill Chappell reported. In March, he pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress.

The prosecutor told the court on Friday that the Paul family is still feeling the repercussions of the attack. Just standing in their yard makes them feel "apprehensive," the prosecutor said, according to the Bowling Green Daily News.

Boucher apologized in court for his behavior. "What I did was wrong and I'm sincerely sorry for what I did," the newspaper reported that he said. "It's not something I'm proud of, I'm embarrassed and I hope (Paul) and his family will one day be able to accept my apology, if possible."

He received a 30-day sentence, in addition to a $10,000 fine, 100 hours of community service and a year of supervised release, the Bowling Green Daily News reported.

Federal prosecutors had sought a prison sentence of 21 months.

U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani called the attack an "isolated incident" that was not spurred by politics, The Associated Press reported.

"I know it's a heavy burden to be a convicted felon, but I hope you can forgive yourself and go on with your life," Battani reportedly told him. "I hope the Pauls can forgive you, but ultimately, that you can forgive yourself."

Paul did not attend the sentencing.

In an emailed statement the lawmaker said:

"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."

But as for Boucher's prison sentence of 30 days, Paul said, "The original 21-month sentence requested would have been the appropriate punishment."

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Neighbor Who Attacked Sen. Rand Paul Sentenced To 30 Days ...

BOWLING GREEN, Kentucky U.S. Sen. Rand Paul's neighbor has been sentenced to 30 days in prison for attacking him in a dispute over yard waste, and the Republican lawmaker says he's fine with that.

Rene Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress. Boucher complained that Paul stacked debris near their property line in Bowling Green, Kentucky. Paul said he hadn't spoken to Boucher for years.

Boucher said he spoke with members of the homeowner's association about his complaint, but a Paul spokesman says the senator didn't hear from the association. Paul's statement says "any description of this attack that implies a 'yard dispute' justifies such violence and misses the point."

According to the arrest warrant for Boucher, Paul suffered "small cuts to the nose and mouth area, and had trouble breathing." The attack left Paul withsix broken ribs, cuts on his face and fluid buildup in his chest. He was later diagnosed with pneumonia.

U.S. District Judge Marianne Battani called November's attack a "dispute between neighbors" and an "isolated incident," not motivated by politics. Boucher also must serve a year of supervised release. Federal prosecutors sought 21 months, but a statement from Paul calls 30 days "appropriate."

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