BOSTON (Court TV) — Massachusetts’ highest court is weighing whether to release audio recordings of a hearing that led to Harmony Mongtomery going into her killer’s custody.
Harmony Montgomery is seen in an undated family photo. (Crystal Sorey)
Harmony’s father, Adam Montgomery, was convicted in New Hampshire of murdering the 5-year-old, whose body has never been found. Before Adam brought his daughter to New Hampshire and killed her, he won custody of her in a Massachusetts courtroom.
When Harmony was born on June 7, 2014, Adam was in prison and wouldn’t be released until Sept. 2015. Harmony remained mostly in the custody of her mother, Crystal Sorey, until 2019, with some time spent in foster care as Sorey battled substance abuse. Harmony lived in Massachusetts until Adam won custody, at which point she moved to New Hampshire with him and his wife, Kayla Montgomery.
Both Sorey and Adam both had a history of drug addiction, while Adam also had a history of violent convictions. On the date that Sorey lost custody of her daughter, she was attending a separate custody hearing for her infant son.
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No cameras were allowed at the custody hearing in Feb. 2019 that sent Harmony into her father’s home, but there is an audio recording. That audio recording was the focus of a hearing on Monday, as LC Media fights for access to it. Lower-level judges denied the request, citing privacy.
At Monday’s hearing, Jennifer LaManna, representing LC Media, argued that while most custody hearings are closed to the public, this case’s unique nature and high interest merit its release. “The right to speak implies a right to listen,” LaManna told the judge. The right to freedom of the press implies a right to gather information.”
“If this case does not rise to the level where the public has a right to know, I’m not sure what would,” Justice Scott Kafker said during the hearing. “We’ve got a little girl who’s been killed because of errors that we’ve recognized here, but we haven’t fully divulged or disclosed.”
The justices will file their opinion at a later date.
Adam was sentenced to 56 years to life for Harmony’s murder. Sorey has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against New Hampshire and state agencies for the alleged failures she says led to her daughter’s death.
