Neighbor who assaulted US Sen. Rand Paul faces sentencing

Rene Boucher told authorities he had 'had enough' after Paul stacked brush onto an existing pile. (AP)

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.

Video

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 Paul’s 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 Boucher’s 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."

— Statement from Sen. Rand Paul's office, correcting a New York Times story

“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.