New Hampshire Supreme Court Overturns Murder Conviction in Death of 5-Year-Old Harmony Montgomery
The New Hampshire Supreme Court has overturned the murder conviction of Adam Montgomery, ordering a new trial after finding that the way charges were presented at trial may have prevented jurors from making a fully independent determination in the death of his 5-year-old daughter, Harmony Montgomery.
The ruling does not result in Montgomery’s immediate release from prison.
He remains incarcerated on separate convictions, but the decision vacates the murder verdict and returns the case to a lower court, where prosecutors have indicated they intend to retry him.
Montgomery was convicted in 2024 of second-degree murder, second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, and witness tampering and was sentenced to 56 years to life in prison.
According to the court’s opinion, the central issue was the joinder of charges at trial, according to NBC News.
Justices found that presenting the assault and murder allegations together risked blurring two distinct sets of conduct, exposing jurors to more extensive evidence tied to an earlier incident that may have improperly influenced their assessment of the homicide charge.
The court said this overlap created a danger that the murder verdict was shaped by evidence not directly tied to that specific allegation.
It also distinguished between the two time periods at issue.
The July 2019 allegations were supported by multiple witnesses who described visible injuries and reported statements attributed to Montgomery.
By contrast, the December 2019 incident relied on a narrower evidentiary record with less independent corroboration, according to the ruling.
A significant portion of the prosecution’s case centered on testimony from Montgomery’s then-wife, Kayla Montgomery, who testified under a cooperation agreement and described events following the child’s disappearance.
She told jurors the child’s remains were moved between several locations after her death, including storage areas such as a shelter ventilation space and a workplace freezer, and described discussions about what to do with the body.
The court noted her testimony primarily addressed actions after the alleged killing rather than independently establishing how the fatal injuries occurred.
Prosecutors alleged that on the day of Harmony’s death in December 2019, the child had soiled herself while sleeping and was struck inside a vehicle.
Montgomery allegedly told his then-wife, “I think I really hurt her this time,” according to trial testimony. Harmony was never seen alive again.
Investigators later determined she had been missing since late 2019, though she was not reported missing until 2021. Her remains have never been found.
The court also reviewed testimony from a friend of Montgomery’s who said he observed him in an agitated state months after the disappearance and heard statements prosecutors argued reflected consciousness of guilt.
The court, however, said this evidence did not directly establish how or when the fatal injuries occurred.
Montgomery’s defense argued that combining the assault and murder charges created unfair prejudice, particularly because jurors heard extensive evidence of earlier alleged abuse that may have shaped their view of the homicide allegation.
The court agreed, concluding that the joinder of charges compromised his right to a fair trial.
Despite overturning the murder conviction, the court left intact Montgomery’s convictions for assault, falsifying physical evidence, and witness tampering.
He continues to serve a lengthy prison sentence based on those remaining charges.
The case will now return to a lower court for a potential retrial on the murder charge. Prosecutors have said they remain confident in the evidence and intend to pursue the case again.
“We remain confident in the facts of this case, the evidence presented, and the exceptional work of our prosecutors, investigators, and law enforcement partners,” a spokesperson for the New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said, according to Fox News.
The office added that it will seek to retry Montgomery on the murder charge as the case proceeds through the court system.
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