CONCORD, N.H. — Adam Montgomery, the man convicted of second-degree murder in the death of his 5-year-old daughter Harmony, is appealing his conviction.
Montgomery’s lawyers filed the 101-page appeal in the Supreme Court of New Hampshire on Tuesday, nearly one year after the 34-year-old was sentenced to a minimum of 56 years in state prison for his role in the death of Harmony, who police believe was killed nearly two years before she was reported missing in 2021 and whose body was never found.
In the appeal, the defense argues Montgomery should have had a separate trial for his assault charges and that his estranged wife and stepmother of his daughter, Kayla Montgomery, shouldn’t have been allowed to testify after serving prison time for lying to the grand jury.
Kayla Montgomery, who had a plea deal with the state and who had previously identified her estranged husband as Harmony’s killer, offered gruesome testimony as a key star witness in the trial, saying that her husband violently punched Harmony when he flew into a rage on Dec. 7, 2019, shortly before they noticed her lifeless body.
Adam Montgomery folded Harmony’s body into a duffel bag, and he spent the next few weeks moving Harmony’s decaying body by hiding it in a restaurant freezer, in the ceiling of a shelter, in an apartment refrigerator, Kayla Montgomery said. In their apartment, she testified, Adam spent hours dismembering the child’s body so it could fit in a small bag.
“It was evil,” Kayla Montgomery said in describing Adam Montgomery’s “crazy eyes” look and demeanor towards his young daughter on the day Harmony died.
Adam Montgomery lawyers also raise concerns over police bodycam video jurors were shown, which was taken days before authorities learned Harmony was missing. They say the video could’ve led the jurors to think that police believed he was involved in Harmony’s disappearance.
At sentencing, Harmony’s mother, Crystal Sorey, didn’t hold back words as her daughter’s father and convicted killer sat nearby and listened.
“I wish you nothing but pain and misery for the rest of your pathetic life,” Sorey said, before adding, “You’re just plain evil.”
Before handing down sentencing, Judge Amy Messer used strong words when addressing Adam Montgomery, calling the convicted child killer “callous.”
“You robbed a 5-year-old girl, your own daughter, of the life that she was to lead, and then after her death, you treated her body like it was trash, worse than trash,” Messer said. “You did unimaginable things to her body.”
Sorey, like others, called Adam Montgomery a “monster who murdered my baby.”
Investigators believe Harmony was killed in December 2019. Her body has never been found.
Read Adam Montgomery’s full appeal to the Granite State’s highest court:
Lawyers for Adam Montgomery file appeal of murder conviction in his daughter’s death by Boston 25 Desk on Scribd
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