CONCORD, N.H. — New Hampshire’s highest court has overturned a murder conviction Thursday for a father charged with killing his 5-year-old daughter and relocating her remains for several months before getting rid of the body.
Authorities believe Harmony Montgomery died in 2019, almost two years prior to anyone reporting her disappearance, despite her body never being recovered. Adam Montgomery, her father, received a sentence of at least 56 years behind bars in 2024 following his conviction on charges including second-degree murder, corpse abuse, evidence tampering, witness interference and assault.
However, the Supreme Court overturned the most severe charge, siding with Montgomery’s argument that the assault charge should have been tried in a separate proceeding. The court returned the second-degree murder charge to the trial court while upholding his remaining convictions.
In their unanimous decision, the justices determined that trying the cases together compromised Montgomery’s right to a fair trial since jurors might have relied on stronger assault evidence to reach conclusions about weaker evidence regarding the killing that occurred months afterward.
“There was a significant risk that the jury would draw the impermissible inference that because the defendant assaulted the victim before by striking her in the head, he must be the one who fatally assaulted her in December by again striking her in the head.”
The overturned second-degree murder conviction represents 45 years of Montgomery’s 56-years-to-life sentence, which was added to a previous 32 ½-year sentence he was already serving for separate firearm charges.
Thursday, the attorney general’s office announced plans to retry the second-degree murder charge.
“We remain confident in the facts of this case, the evidence presented, and the exceptional work of our prosecutors, investigators, and law enforcement partners,” spokesperson Michael Garrity stated. “We will continue our efforts to seek justice for Harmony Montgomery and all those who knew and loved her.”
Montgomery’s legal team did not return requests for comment.
