Rand Paul argued sentence for the neighbor who broke his ribs was too lenient, and a judge just agreed

Prosecutors argued Monday that the sentence for the man who tackled Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and broke his ribs was much too lenient, and a judge agreed with them.

Rene Boucher was convicted of assaulting a member of Congress in the November 2017 attack where he tackled Paul from the back over a dispute about yard work. He broke the senator's ribs and left him with a "significant injury that I have lifelong symptoms from," according to a statement in court by Paul.

In the original sentencing, Boucher was given 30 days in jail, a $1,000 fine, and 100 hours of community service. But Paul appealed the sentence, saying it was far too lenient. Prosecutors sought 21 to 27 months in prison for Boucher.

District Court Judge Matthew Leitman agreed to extend Boucher's sentence to an additional eight months. He will also be ordered to home confinement for six months.

Boucher was also ordered to pay the senator more than $580,000 in damages from a judgment in civil court.

"A momentary lapse in judgment"

The man, who is Paul's neighbor, explained previously that the attack was a result of his anger and frustration over the senator stacking yard waste on his own lawn but near Boucher's property. He admitted that he tackled Paul from behind after he had "had enough" of his actions.

Boucher has said he was embarrassed by his actions.

"He's lived 60 years without a hiccup," said Boucher's lawyer in 2018, "and this was unfortunately a very bad mistake to have been made. He's very sorry about it."

"I think this is a real example of how a momentary lapse in judgment, just 20 to 30 seconds of poor decision making can have such a profound impact, not only on Senator Paul, but also Dr. Boucher," he concluded.

Serious injuries

Paul said that doctors told him they had never seen the kind of injuries he received from that kind of attack, and said they more closely resembled injuries from a car accident.

"I don't know what a night without pain is like or what a day without pain is like, so I do suffer from this," Paul said of his injuries.

"This was no routine altercation," he added. "This was no sort of face-to-face, man-to-man thing."

Here's Paul's reaction to the previous sentence:

Sen. Rand Paul speaks out about neighbor's assault, jail sentencewww.youtube.com