Crime
Montgomery was previously convicted of beating his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony, to death in 2019.
Missing Girl New Hampshire Charles Krupa/AP, Pool
More than two years ago, Adam Montgomery was convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony. On Thursday, the New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned his murder conviction.
In a 15-page ruling, the justices cited procedural errors in how the case was tried. Montgomery’s convictions for second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, witness tampering, and abuse of a corpse were all affirmed, with only the murder conviction being reversed.
The decision comes after Montgomery argued that the trial court erred in its decision not to sever the murder charge and the assault charge. The assault charge was based on allegations that Montgomery gave his daughter a black eye in July 2019. The murder charge was based on allegations that Montgomery beat his daughter to death in December of that year.
Keeping those two charges together in one case jeopardized Montgomery’s right to a fair trial, the justices ruled.
Harmony Montgomery. Crystal Renee Sorey
At the time of the July assault, Montgomery was living at his grandmother’s home in Manchester with Harmony, his wife Kayla, his uncle, and the two biological children he had with Kayla. Harmony’s mother and Montgomery were estranged.
After Montgomery’s uncle returned from a trip, he found Harmony with a black eye. When asked about this, Montgomery allegedly told his uncle, “She didn’t do anything. I bashed her around the f**king house.” At trial, his uncle testified that Montgomery put Harmony in charge of watching her baby brother while Montgomery used the bathroom. When Montgomery returned, he found Harmony with her hands over the baby’s mouth, making the infant’s lips blue.
The fatal beating allegedly occurred on Dec. 7, 2019, about a week after the family was evicted from the Manchester home. They were living in their car at the time. Harmony had been toilet trained, but she started having accidents when the family moved into their car. Montgomery responded to these accidents by hitting her repeatedly, according to a statement of facts from the case.
Harmony had two accidents on the day she died, with Montgomery repeatedly punching her in the head after both, prosecutors said. On their way to a Burger King after leaving a methadone clinic, Montgomery continued to hit his daughter as she cried and made a “strange, moaning-like noise.” With his final punch, Montgomery said in a “scared voice” that he “felt something” and “thought he really hurt her this time,” according to the statement of facts.
The family’s car broke down later that day in the middle of traffic. Montgomery allegedly realized his daughter was dead and placed her body in a duffel bag. He hid her body in various locations for the next three months before disposing of it, prosecutors said.
Montgomery argued that the state’s case regarding the July assault was strong, but that the case regarding the murder in December was substantially weaker because it rested entirely on Kayla’s testimony, who has “significant credibility deficits.”
The high court justices agreed that there was a disparity.
“As compared to the evidence of multiple disinterested witnesses substantiating the July assault, the evidence of the December 7, 2019 fatal attack is substantially weaker,” they wrote.
“We therefore conclude that this disparity created a significant risk that the jury would rely on the strength of the evidence that the defendant struck the victim in anger in July to conclude that, as Kayla testified, he similarly — and fatally — struck the victim in December,” they added.
Read the New Hampshire Supreme Court’s full ruling below:
New Hampshire Supreme Court – Montgomery ruling by Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello
Ross Cristantiello, a general assignment news reporter for Boston.com since 2022, covers local politics, crime, the environment, and more.
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