Did a Single Decision by Harmony Montgomery’s Trial Judge Destroy the Murder Conviction?

The defense asked the trial judge to separate the charges. The judge said no. Five New Hampshire Supreme Court justices — unanimously — said that decision denied Adam Montgomery a fair trial and reversed the second-degree murder conviction in the killing of his five-year-old daughter Harmony.
The problem was the evidence gap between the two charges. The July 2019 assault had multiple witnesses, documented injuries, and no dispute. The December 2019 murder rested on Kayla Montgomery — Adam’s estranged wife, who went to prison for lying to investigators before agreeing to testify for the prosecution. The court found the rock-solid assault evidence bled into the weaker murder case and gave the jury a bridge it should never have had. The defense theory — that Kayla killed Harmony and Adam only covered it up — was drowned out by proof of a separate violent act the jury was never supposed to weigh against the murder charge.
Criminal defense attorney Bob Motta walks through the ruling with the precision of someone who has tried these cases. He explains what “prejudicial joinder” means when it’s not a legal abstraction but a real courtroom dynamic that tips a verdict. He addresses whether the trial judge should have recognized the risk, why the defense ended up arguing both sides of the severance issue, and what the public gets wrong when they hear “conviction overturned.” Adam Montgomery is not getting out — he still faces decades on surviving convictions plus a thirty-two-and-a-half-year firearms sentence. Prosecutors plan to retry the murder charge. Harmony’s remains have never been found.

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This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.

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