2 trials possible for Adam Montgomery; defense asks assault and murder cases be separated
Adam Montgomery, who is to be tried in early February for the murder of his 5-year-old daughter, wants a separate trial on a charge accusing him of blackening the child’s eye five months before her death.
MANCHESTER, NH – Adam Montgomery, who is to be tried in early February for the murder of his 5-year-old daughter, wants a separate trial on a charge accusing him of blackening the child’s eye five months before her death.
Originally, in November 2022, Montgomery had agreed to have the second-degree assault offense, accusing him of punching Harmony in the face in July 2019, heard at the same time he is being tried for second-degree murder, for repeatedly punching Harmony in the head on Dec. 7, 2019 causing her death; falsifying physical evidence, for concealing Harmony’s body; abuse of a corpse, for removing, concealing or destroying his daughter’s corpse, and witness tampering for attempting to induce Kayla Montgomery, his estranged wife, to testify falsely.
Over the weekend, however, defense attorneys filed a motion requesting the trials be severed, one of the subjects of a final pre-trial hearing Tuesday in Hillsborough County Superior Court North. Montgomery, 33, was not at the hearing because he refused to be transported from the New Hampshire State Prison.
Judge Amy Messier presided at the hearing via WebEx. She said something had come up that could not be avoided but it was unrelated to the weather. She did not elaborate.
Public Defenders Caroline L. Smith and James T. Brooks, in the motion, said when all parties agreed to one trial, the defense was satisfied that joining the offenses would allow for fair and just verdicts on each individual charge. “The second-degree assault and second-degree murder charges were two discrete allegations separated by roughly five months and differing circumstances,” they wrote.
They said in recent weeks, “the state of the evidence has changed dramatically.”
They argue the state now is portraying the second-degree assault and second-degree murder charges as “mere parts of a larger pervasive and sustained pattern of abuse.”
According to the state, the defense was aware that “in the months and weeks prior to Harmony’s death, she appeared to be malnourished and covered in bruises.”
The defense says the state, “belatedly avers that ‘Harmony’s physical frailty at the time of her murder shows the defendant’s intent (i.e., that he acted recklessly and with extreme indifference.”
The defense said last Thursday, Jan. 11, 2024, they received a letter from the state in which prosecutors advise Kayla Montgomery, Montgomery’s estranged wife who has filed for a divorce, has now told them that she witnessed Adam strike Harmony during the week prior to the family becoming homeless. Previously, Kayla told police she did not know why Adam ceased all communication with Harmony’s biological mother, Crystal Sorey, in April 2019.
Now, she is saying Adam “cut Crystal Sorey off because of the bruises on Harmony and the fear that Crystal would report him.”
“The clear import of this new assertion is that Adam was assaulting Harmony as early as April 2019, evidence that Montgomery’s defense could not have divined when moving to join in November 2022,” the defense attorneys said in court filings.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin J. Agati told the judge the defense has the right to withdraw its original agreement to join the two trials. However, he said the defense has been on notice for well over a year concerning Harmony Montgomery’s physical condition in the months and days leading up to her death, as well as the bruises she suffered during that time period.
Prosecutors said, in its written response to the defense motion, that last Thursday members of the State met with Kayla in anticipation of trial, and subsequently sent the defense notice of three new disclosures that the defendant now cites as rounds to withdraw his motion: that Kayla herself saw the defendant strike Harmony in the week prior to the family becoming homeless (when in her earlier June 3, 3023 proffer, she stated she had not seen any injuries on Harmony until they were homeless); that Kayla disclosed the reason she believes the defendant cut off contact with Harmony’s mother was because he was bruising Harmony; and that Kayla now described Harmony as skinny and looking exhausted at the time they were living homeless in their car when before she described her weight as 60-65 pounds at that time.
Kayla Montgomery’s recent statements during witness preparation “do not ‘dramatically’ change the state of the evidence. They do not mean that the State will withdraw its agreement that the jury must be instructed to consider the charges separately in deliberations,” the prosecutors said in court documents. “That being said, the defendant has the right to seek a withdrawal of his motion if he now feels that it would not be in his best interest after having read his discovery more thoroughly.”
Prosecutors also said the defense, through discovery, was aware of Harmony’s physical condition and that she weighed “just 35 pounds in June of 2019.”
They also said in its response that they anticipate multiple individuals will testify they saw Harmony with a black eye following the July 2019 assault, an assault Adam Montgomery admitted to committing. Other witnesses also are expected to testify to the abuse he perpetrated on Kayla, who is an eyewitness to Harmony’s murder as well as the defendant’s actions both immediately before and after the murder.
Kevin Montgomery, Adam’s uncle, reported when he visited his nephew at his 77 Gilford St. home in late July 2019, Harmony had a black eye. When Kevin asked what happened, Adam said he “bashed her around the house.” He also told his uncle he punched her in the face. That conversation, according to prosecutors, was overheard by Kayla who confronted Adam. He admitted to injuring Harmony. Previously, he told Kayla the injury occurred while Harmony played with her younger brother.
Agati told the judge if the trials are severed, that the second-degree assault charge should be the first one. That trial is expected to last a week, with the murder trial anticipated to take 3 to 3 ½ weeks. Jury selection is set to begin on Feb. 6, 2024. For the murder trial, up to 17 jurors will be selected, with five designated alternates. Fourteen jurors will be seated for the assault rail, with two named alternates.
In the murder trial, jurors are expected to be taken on a view although they will not get off the bus. The view will be of the 77 Gilford St. address, where the Montgomery family lived until they were evicted in 2019, through the city and to Colonial Village apartments where the family was living out of their car prior to Harmony’s death.
The state alleges Adam, angry that his 5-year-old was having bathroom accidents in the car, repeatedly punched her in the face as he was driving the family to Burger King on Dec. 7, 2019. Hours later, he and Kayla realized she was dead, according to investigators.
He allegedly retained the child’s body, moving it from a duffel bag to other containers, and from one place to another as the family moved around the city. At a Lake Avenue residence, he kept her remains in the ceiling.
Agati told the judge that a large section of drywall will be brought into the courtroom as part of the evidence presented.
Reporter Pat Grossmith can be reached at pgrossmith@gmail.com