BOWLING GREEN, Ky. _ The neighbor charged with attacking U.S. Sen. Rand Paul and breaking several of his ribs pleaded not guilty during a short court hearing Thursday morning.
Rene Boucher, a retired anesthesiologist, remained free on bond after his arraignment in Warren District Court. He is charged with fourth-degree assault, a Class A misdemeanor punishable by up to 12 months in jail.
Boucher's lawyer, Matt Baker, entered the plea and Boucher spoke only to say he understood the bond conditions, which include staying away from Paul. Baker and Boucher left the courthouse without comment, shedding no light on why Boucher allegedly tackled Paul.
County Attorney Amy Milliken said there is a chance the charges against Boucher could still be upgraded as the FBI and Kentucky State Police continue their investigation.
In a later interview, Baker gave credence to suggestions by neighbors that the attack was motivated by a dispute over property rights.
He specifically cited a story published in the Louisville Courier-Journal that quoted Jim Skaggs, who once led the local Republican Party and developed the community where the men live. Skaggs suggested the dispute might have grown from Paul allegedly blowing lawn clippings into Boucher's yard.
The newspaper quoted Skaggs as saying there had been earlier disagreements between Paul and Boucher over matters such as who had responsibility to trim a tree limb that crossed their property line.
"I think it was a neighbor-to-neighbor thing. They just both had strong opinions, and a little different ones, about what property rights mean," Skaggs said in another story in the New York Times.
"My analysis would be consistent with his," Baker said of Skaggs' comments, though he would not specify why the two men were allegedly in a property rights dispute.
He repeated his earlier assertion that the incident was not politically motivated.
"It has zero to do with Democrat or Republican, liberal or conservative, anything like that," Baker said. "It has to do with a disagreement between two neighbors."
Baker said Paul has hired a personal injury lawyer in Bowling Green, Tom Kerrrick, indicating a possible lawsuit.
More than 20 reporters packed into the courtroom along with more than 80 others in the audience facing traffic and other charges, plus several inmates in orange jumpsuits.
Judge Brent Potter even snapped a photo of a battery of TV cameras was set up in the jury box with his cell phone before the hearing. "This is atypical, I'll tell you that," Potter told reporters.
Boucher, 59, has lived next door to Paul in an upscale, gated development in Bowling Green for more than 15 years.
On Nov. 3, he allegedly went into Paul's yard and attacked him as Paul got off a riding lawnmower.
According to published reports and an arrest warrant, Boucher came up behind the Republican senator and tackled him without warning. Paul was wearing hearing protection and didn't hear Boucher approach, one neighbor said.
Earlier reports said Paul suffered five broken ribs.
However, Paul said Wednesday in a tweet that he has six broken ribs and that an X-ray showed a "pleural effusion," or a buildup of fluid between his lung and chest wall.
Paul has not said what he thinks led to the attack.
On Wednesday, however, he tweeted a link to a story on the right-wing Breitbart site in which several neighbors said they disagreed that the attack was related to a landscaping dispute.
"The stories of a 'landscaping dispute,' or a dispute of any sort between Rand Paul and Rene Boucher, are erroneous and unfounded," a friend and neighbor named Travis Creed told Breitbart. "The reason for Mr. Boucher's bizarre attack is known only to him."
Several people quoted in the story described Paul and his family as great neighbors.
