New Hampshire Supreme Court Overturns Adam Montgomery's Murder Conviction in Daughter's Death

The New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned Adam Montgomery's second-degree murder conviction for the fatal beating of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony, citing procedural errors that compromised his right to a fair trial. The court's decision on Thursday reversed the murder charge but upheld his convictions for second-degree assault, falsifying physical evidence, witness tampering, and abusing his daughter's corpse. Montgomery, now 36, received a 56-year-to-life sentence in 2024 under the now-overturned murder conviction, though a separate decades-long prison sentence from 2023 firearms offenses remains unaffected.

The Court's Reasoning

The core issue centered on how prosecutors structured the charges against Montgomery. His defense attorney, Pamela E. Phelan, argued that joining an assault case from July 2019 with the murder charge—related to events in December 2019—allowed prosecutors to establish a pattern of abuse that prejudiced the jury. During trial, the defense requested the cases be tried separately, but that motion was denied. The appellate court agreed this combination created unfair conditions, despite prosecutors using the earlier assault to demonstrate escalating violence leading to Harmony's death.

In their ruling, the justices stated that the defendant failed to demonstrate reversible error regarding his other convictions. The assault charge stemmed from an incident when Montgomery physically abused Harmony two weeks before her fatal beating. Her body was never recovered, and she was not reported missing until 2021—nearly two years after her death in December 2019 while the family was living in a car in Manchester, New Hampshire, following an eviction.

Broader Context and Civil Liability

The case underscores systemic failures in child protection across two states. Harmony's mother, Crystal Sorey, lost custody in 2018 while struggling with substance misuse. She requested that her daughter remain with a foster family, but a Massachusetts judge awarded custody to Montgomery despite his violent criminal history. In May, Montgomery was found civilly liable for Harmony's death and ordered to pay nearly $15.5 million in damages to her estate. Sorey separately reached a $2.25 million settlement with New Hampshire. The circumstances of Harmony's death have prompted calls for reforms to child protection services in both New Hampshire and Massachusetts.