Nearly fatal double stabbing at Mass. Ave. diner started when man kept insisting on dancing with one victim's wife, police say

A man who wouldn't take no for an answer from a woman he wanted to dance with at the Liberty Diner on Mass. Ave. last August ended up pulling out a black-handled knife and stabbing the woman's husband in the chest - and slicing open that man's brother's face from ear to chin, police told the Boston Licensing Board at a hearing today.

The board held the hearing to determine whether the diner at 1003 Massachusetts Ave. could have prevented the stabbing and, if so, whether it should be punished or sanctioned in any way.

The alleged knife wielder, Conrad Burnette, 62, of Milton, was arrested at the scene - the brother who left in an ambulance with part of his cheek hanging off his face managed to get him to the floor and keep him there, the knife still clenched in his left hand, until police arrived, officers told the board. The other brother suffered injuries severe enough to have the homicide unit called in just in case, although after he was intubated and underwent several surgeries, doctors got him away from death's door, police said.

According to police and diner manager Robert Doucette, the two brothers were frequent regulars at the diner/bar - often coming in every day. On the evening of Aug. 17, they came in, around 9 p.m., accompanied by the wife of one of the two men, and sat one end of the bar.

At one point, they got up to dance. Burnette, who may have been making his first visit to the diner, and who was sitting at the other end, wanted to dance with the woman and kept insisting on a dance even after her husband told him to cut it out, she's his wife, police and Doucette said. "You have to dance with me!" he allegedly insisted, even after the woman's husband told him "I told you to stop, she's my wife," Doucette said.

After 15 minutes or so of repeated requests, the brothers and the wife decided to leave.

Harsher words were exchanged. A brawl started and Burnette, police say, pulled out a knife and stabbed one of the brothers in the upper chest. The other brother joined the fight and Burnette managed to slice one side of his face before the man managed to get him to the ground and basically sat on him and held down his left arm and hand, in which Burnette was holding the knife.

Arriving officers arrested Burnette, his yellow shirt now dyed red from the two brothers' blood, and charged him with two counts of assault and battery with a dangerous weapon, armed assault to murder and affray.

A Suffolk County grand jury indicted him on those charges on Nov. 13. On Dec. 16, Suffolk Superior Court Judge James Budreau declared him a potential danger to society and ordered him held without bail at least through his trial, tentatively set for November.

Doucette told the board the diner only had one employee on duty at the time - Saturday nights tend to be slow at the diner - and that he fired her because she didn't handle the situation well and appeared to have lied to both him and police about what happened. As one example, he said at one point she came out from behind the bar and got in between the guy and the brothers. A police detective said the woman refused to talk to him and he finally had to ask that she be subpoenaed to appear before the grand jury investigating the incident. He added that aside from Doucette, who readily provided him with surveillance video and audio, diner workers were not cooperative either.

Doucette said he has since added an extra person to work at night and that staffers have been retrained to try to de-escalate situations, but to also stay at their stations, for example, behind the bar except in an emergency. He also said he told them to cooperate with police.

The board decides Thursday whether any punishment is warranted and if so, whether that would come in the form or a warning or temporary suspension of the diner's liquor license.

Innocent, etc.