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The New Hampshire Supreme Court dismissed the murder case of Adam Montgomery, who was found guilty of brutally murdering his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, and hiding her remains, which have not yet been found.
“The trial of assault and second degree murder in one case jeopardized the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” the court ruled.
The court admitted the charges related to them, including abuse of a dead body, tampering with evidence and assault.
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Adam Montgomery and his attorneys Caroline Smith and James Brooks watch prospective jurors enter the courtroom for jury selection before his murder trial in Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester, NH, on Feb. 6, 2024. (David Lane/Leader Pool)
According to the verdict, jurors were presented with strong evidence that Adam Montgomery assaulted Harmony a few months before her death, which improperly allowed them to conclude that he assaulted her again in December 2019, leading to her death, in an incident where there was little evidence.
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“The State’s case for second-degree assault was strong,” the court’s opinion read. “Three witnesses testified to seeing the victim with a black eye in July 2019. Four witnesses, including two who saw the victim’s black eye, testified that the defendant admitted to hitting the victim.”
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Only one witness linked the incident to the December incident that is believed to have led to Harmony’s death. That was Kayla Montgomery, Adam’s ex-wife and Harmony’s mother. He was offered a deal with prosecutors to testify, and the attorney challenged his credibility.
“We are absolutely disgusted by the decision of the New Hampshire Supreme Court,” said the adoptive parents of Harmony’s brother, Jamison, Johnathon Miller and Bob Ward. “The truth is – more security is in place for this monster than Harmony Montgomery ever had.”
Kayla Montgomery, Adam Montgomery’s common-law wife, suffers a headache while testifying against him during his trial at the Hillsborough District Court in Manchester, NH, on Feb. 9, 2024. (Jeffrey Hastings/Pool)
The murder case was sent back to the lower court, and Montgomery is expected to face a new trial on that charge.
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Police arrested Montgomery in January 2021 after Harmony’s mother, who was not in custody and no longer in contact with Montgomery, reported her missing.
Investigators in Manchester, New Hampshire, discovered that the girl had been missing since 2019.
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On December 7, 2019, the day investigators believe Harmony died, she defiled herself in her sleep, prosecutors said.
Her father allegedly hit her in the head, telling ex-wife Kayla Montgomery, “I think I really hurt her this time.”
Harmony Montgomery and her younger brother Jamison were placed in a foster home more than two years ago. (Johnathon Miller)
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Harmony was never seen again.
The defense attorney painted Kayla Montgomery as an unreliable witness and tried to frame her for the crime, arguing during the trial that she was the last person to see Harmony.
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Harmony Montgomery has been reported missing. Anyone with information is asked to call the Manchester Police Department’s tip line at 603-203-6060. (Manchester Police Department)
The court found that the manslaughter trial and related charges were unfair to Adam Montgomery as a result – even though his defense had asked for the first participant. After receiving more evidence, he later tried to have the charges dismissed, but failed.
“Although the jury did not hear evidence that Kayla had ever assaulted the victim, they listened to the testimony of many witnesses that the defendant assaulted the victim in July 2019,” reads the decision. “Therefore, there was a great risk that the judges would make an invalid decision that because the defendant had beaten the victim before by hitting him on the head, he must be the one who hit him and killed him in December by hitting him again on the head.”
