For all those who have followed Harmony's story with me and who care about this beautiful little girl, here is my statement on the decision by the New Hampshire Supreme Court to overturn the conviction and send the case back for a new trial:
Once again the State of New Hampshire has decided to extend the unconscionable abuse of Harmony Montgomery even further by overturning the conviction of Adam Montgomery.
The Court did not find Adam Montgomery innocent, nor did it conclude that Harmony was not murdered. Rather, it determined that legal errors regarding the joinder of charges deprived him of a fair trial on the murder count and ordered a new trial.
Nothing, when it comes to this case, has been fair to a beautiful little girl who was brutally abused by her violent father and then brutally treated by the New Hampshire child welfare system.
It is impossible to discuss this case without thinking first of Harmony. Long before there was a criminal trial or an appeal, there was a little girl who was failed by the adults and institutions charged with protecting her.
The decision is also deeply personal for me. I was the judge who finalized the adoption of Harmony's brother Jamison, just weeks before Harmony was murdered. I came to know Jamison's adoptive fathers, Blair and Johnathon Miller even before I finalized the adoption. I worked alongside them to tell Harmony's story in "A Cruel Injustice." We developed a deep and lasting friendship between our families.
Through that experience, I witnessed firsthand the profound love they have for their children and the enduring pain caused by Harmony's loss.
Today's ruling changes the legal path forward, but it does not change the underlying tragedy. Harmony remains the victim. Her brother and his family carry an unimaginable burden.
My first reaction to today's decision is not as a former judge, but as someone who has spent years examining how New Hampshire's child protection system failed Harmony Montgomery at virtually every turn. Those failures do not and did not end with Harmony.
The reversal is disappointing because it means yet another chapter in a case that should never have existed in the first place. Long before there was a criminal trial, an appeal, or a Supreme Court decision, there was a little girl who was repeatedly failed by the very institutions charged with protecting her.
The public should never forget that Harmony's death did not occur in a vacuum. Reports of abuse were not properly investigated. Evidence presented at trial contradicted key representations made in the Governor's report regarding the state's response to those reports. Opportunities to intervene were missed. Warnings were ignored. And a vulnerable child was left in circumstances that ultimately proved fatal.
The criminal case may be entering a new phase but the systemic failures that left Harmony vulnerable and placed her on a lethal trajectory remain unaddressed today. Those failures remain every bit as deserving of scrutiny and accountability—as they were before this decision was handed down.
New Hampshire's responsibility for the failures that placed Harmony in danger remains exactly the same today as it was yesterday.
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This evening, two subjects were arrested as they were live streaming in the Guthrie neighborhood.
This arrest order personally came from Sheriff Nanos via chain of command.
The public can once again see why we fight so hard to rid ourselves of him.