LOUISVILLE, Ky. (AP) — Federal prosecutors are appealing the 30-day sentence given to the man who tackled U.S. Sen. Rand Paul while the lawmaker was doing yard work at his Kentucky home.
U.S. Special Attorney Bradley Shepard filed the motion to appeal Rene Boucher’s sentence to the 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. Prosecutors sought a 21-month sentence.
Paul, who suffered broken ribs in the attack last November, has said 21 months would have been "the appropriate punishment."
Boucher pleaded guilty to assaulting a member of Congress and was sentenced last month. Boucher said he was triggered by Paul stacking debris near their property line in Bowling Green and "lost his temper."
Boucher asked for leniency at his sentencing hearing and said what he did was wrong. Shepard called the attack "vicious and unprovoked."
