New Hampshire Supreme Court Sends murder conviction back for father of missing girl

The New Hampshire Supreme Court on Thursday reversed the second-degree murder conviction of Adam Montgomery, who has been serving a lengthy sentence for the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony Montgomery. The justices ruled that the murder charge had been improperly combined with other offenses, potentially depriving Montgomery of a fair trial.

In a unanimous opinion, the court said jurors could have inferred that because Montgomery had assaulted the child earlier, he must also have been responsible for her fatal injuries, an inference the court deemed impermissible. The ruling sends the murder charge back to a lower court for a new trial, while upholding convictions for abuse of a corpse, falsifying evidence, witness tampering and assault.

Montgomery’s total sentence includes a minimum of 56 years for the murder conviction, which accounts for 45 years of that term, in addition to a prior 32½-year term for unrelated gun offenses.

“We remain confident in the facts of this case, the evidence presented, and the exceptional work of our prosecutors, investigators, and law enforcement partners,” said Michael Garrity, spokesperson for the attorney general’s office. “We will continue our efforts to seek justice for Harmony Montgomery and all those who knew and loved her.”

State officials said they will pursue a retrial on the murder charge. Montgomery’s attorneys did not respond to requests for comment.

The case follows a 2023 settlement in which the state paid $2.25 million to Harmony’s mother after a lawsuit alleged social-service failures. Kayla Montgomery, the stepmother, served an 18-month sentence for lying to a grand jury and was the prosecution’s key witness, testifying that she saw her husband kill Harmony in December 2019 and move the body multiple times before discarding it in March 2020.