New Hampshire seeking 56 years to life for Adam Montgomery

Prosecutors are seeking a sentence of 56 years to life for Adam Montgomery, the New Hampshire man who was convicted of murdering his 5-year-old daughter earlier this year.

In a sentencing memo sent to the judge Tuesday and signed by Attorney General John M. Formella, prosecutors emphasize 34-year-old Montgomery’s previous criminal history and sentences for those crimes that “failed” to rehabilitate him. The state also says that the cruelty with which Montgomery killed his daughter Harmony Montgomery is reason for extended jail time.

“Accordingly, for the charges upon which he has been convicted, the Court is left with few sentencing goals it can accomplish beyond deterrence and punishment,” the memo reads. 

Montgomery was found guilty of second degree murder in the death of Harmony Montgomery in February. Police believe Harmony was killed some two years before she was reported missing in 2021, and her body is still undiscovered. 

Montgomery was also convicted on charges of tampering with witnesses, falsifying physical evidence, abuse of a corpse, and second degree assault. 

In the memo, prosecutors say Montgomery has never shown remorse for Harmony’s death and that the murder was not a quick or impulsive act. 

The state said at trial that Montgomery beat Harmony to death before he “folded” her body into a duffle bag and “treated it with extreme temperatures and chemicals,” according to the memo. Montgomery had also abused Harmony before, hitting and punching her as recently as a week before her death, prosecutors have said.

“There is nothing about the facts of this case that can be described as ‘minimal,’ such that the mandatory minimum sentence would be an appropriate sentence,” the memo reads.

Prosecutors also point to Montgomery’s extensive and violent criminal history, which includes convictions on charges of first-degree assault, armed robbery, and assault and battery with a dangerous weapon. 

“Rehabilitative efforts have been part of his sentences before over the past two decades, and he has chosen not to participate. Suspended time, programming, sentences to the house of corrections, etc.…,” prosecutors write,” and none of them have deterred him from committing more violent crimes hurting others.”

Montgomery’s sentencing is scheduled for Thursday. Charges of being an armed career criminal and one count of being a felon in possession are also pending against Montgomery, according to the memo.