By Eric Levenson, CNN
(CNN) — The New Hampshire Supreme Court overturned the murder conviction of Adam Montgomery in the death of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony in a case that had spurred sharp criticism of the child protective services system.
Montgomery was found guilty in 2024 of second-degree murder in the death five years earlier of Harmony, who was reported missing in 2021. He was also found guilty on charges of second-degree assault for a July 2019 incident and charges of witness tampering, falsifying physical evidence and abuse of a corpse, according to court documents.
In its 15-page ruling issued Thursday, the New Hampshire Supreme Court said the assault charge – in which Montgomery was accused of striking Harmony – should have been severed from the murder charge and dealt with in separate trials.
“We conclude that, under these circumstances, trying the second degree assault and second degree murder charges in a single trial jeopardized the defendant’s right to a fair trial,” the court wrote.
The evidence of the assault was strong and relied on multiple witnesses, the court wrote. But the evidence of the murder was “substantially weaker,” primarily based on the testimony of his wife Kayla Montgomery, who had previously pleaded guilty to perjury.
“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,” the court wrote.
The court therefore overturned the murder conviction but affirmed the other charges. The court remanded the case back to a trial court for a retrial.
The decision reignites one of the most disturbing trials in recent years – a tale full of drug abuse, domestic violence, false testimony and a missing 5-year-old girl. The case also led to criticism of the Massachusetts judge who placed Harmony, who had cycled in and out of foster care as a child, in Adam Montgomery’s custody in New Hampshire.
Harmony’s remains have still not been found.
The New Hampshire Attorney General’s Office said it was “disappointed” in the ruling and plans to retry Adam Montgomery on the murder charge. The office also noted Adam Montgomery remains behind bars on a 43.5-year sentence related to other felonies and firearms 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,” the office said. “We will continue our efforts to seek justice for Harmony Montgomery and all those who knew and loved her.”
Pamela Phelan, the attorney who argued Adam Montgomery’s case before the appeals court, praised the decision.
“The Court’s decision addresses important aspects of a fair trial,” she said in a statement. “Justice is only served when we provide a person accused of a crime a fair and just trial. A trial that is not conducted with those principles in mind does not provide justice to persons accused of a crime or people who are victims of crimes.”
Harmony was last seen in 2019
In 2022, the Massachusetts Office of the Child Advocate wrote a 101-page report on Harmony’s case and found state officials prioritized her parents’ rights over her well-being.
“By not putting her and her needs first, our system ultimately failed her,” OCA director Maria Mossaides said at the time. “We owe it to her to make the changes necessary to allow our system to do better in the future.”
Born in June 2014, Harmony was blind in one eye and had other medical concerns, according to the office’s report.
That summer, a Department of Children and Families office received reports of neglect while the baby was living with her mother, who was struggling with substance abuse, according to the report. Adam Montgomery, Harmony’s father, was incarcerated at the time of her birth and “not involved in Harmony’s life,” the report said.
Harmony cycled between foster care and her mother’s care until she was eventually placed in her father’s care in February 2019. Adam Montgomery, out of prison at that time, took his daughter to New Hampshire with his wife Kayla Montgomery, the report said.
Harmony’s mother last spoke to her in spring of 2019 in a FaceTime call but was unable to reach her again. Police said Harmony was last seen in October 2019.
According to the prosecution’s sentencing memo, Adam Montgomery beat Harmony to death on December 7, 2019, and then engaged in the “transportation and consolidation of her body over three months” before disposing of her corpse on March 4, 2020. He then lied about her whereabouts for more than two years, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said he lied about what happened to Harmony and beat her stepmother Kayla Montgomery ordering her to stick to the story.
At his trial, Adam Montgomery’s defense admitted to falsifying evidence and abuse of a corpse but argued he did so to protect Kayla Montgomery, who was the only one who knew what really happened to Harmony.
The jury convicted him on all counts.
Separately, Kayla Montgomery pleaded guilty in 2022 to lying to a grand jury about her whereabouts the last time her stepdaughter was seen, according to a parole hearing and court records. She testified against her estranged husband at his trial and was granted parole in March 2024.
The-CNN-Wire™ & © 2026 Cable News Network, Inc., a Warner Bros. Discovery Company. All rights reserved.
CNN’s Lauren Mascarenhas, Nicki Brown and Nic F. Anderson contributed to this report.
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