Man heats knife in stove and tries to ‘brand’ woman on Valentine’s Day, MT officials say
A 32-year-old man accused of burning a woman with a knife he heated in the stove “until it was red hot” was ordered to serve three years and five months behind bars, federal prosecutors in Montana said.
Dale Ray Racine was drinking at a Browning home early Feb. 14, 2024 — Valentine’s Day — and “at some point” put the knife into a wood stove, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Montana said in a Jan. 29 news release.
After the knife became “red hot,” Racine took it out and burned a woman with it, prosecutors said.
The woman, who suffered second-degree burns, reported that Racine attempted to “brand” her neck and then “intentionally burned her hand” when she lifted it to stop him, according to prosecutors.
Racine’s attorney declined to comment in an email Jan. 30 to McClatchy News.
Along with prison time, Racine was sentenced to three years of supervised release, prosecutors said. The sentencing came after he pleaded guilty to assault with a dangerous weapon in September.
When the Feb. 14 incident happened, Racine was on supervision after being released from prison a month earlier in connection with “repeatedly” hitting a man’s head with a pipe, prosecutors said.
Browning is about a 200-mile drive northeast from Missoula.
This story was originally published January 30, 2025 at 3:34 PM with the headline "Man heats knife in stove and tries to ‘brand’ woman on Valentine’s Day, MT officials say."
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