By DAMIEN FISHER, InDepthNH.org
MANCHESTER – After skipping every day of his trial, Adam Montgomery finally showed up in court Thursday as he was given the maximum sentence for killing his five-year-old daughter, Harmony Montgomery.
“Harmony was a five-year-old little girl. You treated her in the worst of possible ways in both her life and her death,” Hillsborough Superior Court Judge Amy Messer told Adam Montgomery as she imposed a sentence that will keep him in prison for at least the next 56 years.
Adam Montgomery demonstrated his extreme indifference to his daughter’s life, from her murder, the abuse of her corpse, and him getting rid of her body, throughout the nightmarish case, Messer said. Harmony’s remains have yet to be found.
“After her death, you treated her body like it was trash, worse than trash,” Messer said.
Senior Assistant Attorney General Benjamin Agati requested the maximum sentence, saying Adam Montgomery’s shown he’s refused to show remorse whatsoever, like he refuses to tell police where he dumped Harmony’s body.
“There is nothing minimum about the crimes he is here for today,” Agati said.
In court, Agati offered to change his sentencing request to the minimum if Adam Montgomery would finally tell police where Harmony was left. That offer was refused.
Defense Attorney Caroline Smith called the offer a stunt. Adam Montgomery denies he killed his daughter even after the conviction, and he retains the right against self-incrimination, Smith said.
But he didn’t have the right Thursday to avoid the courthouse. Adam Montgomery sat silent throughout the afternoon as Messer and the rest of the people in court listened to the heartbreaking statements from Harmony’s mother, Crystal Corey, Harmony’s foster mother, Michelle Rafferty, and Blair Miller and Johnathon Bobbitt-Miller, the adoptive parents of Harmony’s brother, Jamison.
Sorey hopes Adam Montgomery is haunted by their daughter for the rest of his life.
“She had a life worth living, not like your own. It bothered you to your core she was nothing like you and everything like me. She wasn’t a coward like you. You’re a coward who has to be in control of everything and everyone around you,” Sorey said.
Wishing Adam Montgomery misery for the rest of his life, Sorey vowed to look for her daughter until her remains are found.
“My love for Harmony outweighs my hatred for you,” Sorey said.
Rafferty told Messer how Harmony was a friend to everyone she met, and a little girl who loved being in a family. She didn’t have to die, Rafferty said, but Adam Montgomery chose to kill her.
“Adam is hateful and selfish and continues to be so. He had options, but always chose himself each time,” Rafferty said.
Jamison talked about Harmony constantly after he was adopted, Blair Miller. He also talked about her “beautiful blonde hair,” her smile, her glasses, and the way she always took care of him. Now that little boy knows he’ll never see her again.
“He asks ‘Who took my sister away?’ Adam, you took away his best friend and his sister. You introduced murder into his life and forever created a void that can never be filled.” Blair Miller said. “You chose, Adam, to take our little boy’s sister away, you don’t deserve to make another choice in a free society.”
Her brother Jamison is heartbroken to have lost his sister, the girl who looked out for him while they were in foster care together, Bobbitt-Miller said. He still thinks about the Elmo toy she gave him, her love for Minnie Mouse, and he hopes her glasses don’t break in heaven.
Jamison misses Harmony every day, and Bobbitt-Miller said the young boy’s had to grapple with the knowledge the sister he loves so dearly, and who loved him back, was murdered so heartlessly.
“In our family we teach love and forgiveness, I’m not sure how to teach our son to forgive the monster who killed his sister,” Bobbitt-Miller said.
Kayla Montgomery, Adam Montgomery’s ex-wife who turned key witness for the prosecution, sent a strange statement to the court expressing her continued love for Adam Montgomery, the man who beat her and terrorized her into silence about the murder.
“I will always have a place in my heart for you, whether you believe me or not,” Kayla Montgomery wrote. “I was in love with you once and I still love you because you’re the father of our children.”
Messer sentenced Adam Montgomery to 45 years to life in prison for second-degree murder; three and a half to seven years for falsifying physical evidence; three and a half to seven years for witness tampering; and four to eight years for second degree assault. All of the sentences are to be served consecutively. He is also sentenced to 12-months in jail for abuse of a corpse, but that sentence is suspended for 25 years.