Rose Smith testified Thursday that she witnessed Adam Montgomery’s rage and abuse toward his wife, Kayla, before driving them to one of their appointments at a methadone clinic in Manchester in March 2021.
Smith was one of nine people to take the stand on the seventh day of Montgomery’s murder trial. He is accused of beating his 5-year-old daughter Harmony to death in December 2019.
Kayla Montgomery’s left eye was badly bruised and swelling shut outside their apartment at 644 Union St. when she asked to use Smith’s phone to call for help.
“I didn’t see Adam there. I saw rage,” Smith said. “I saw pure rage walking toward me.”
Smith later told police that Montgomery told her, “I will kill you if you give that phone to my wife.”
Montgomery, 34, is also charged with second-degree assault for allegedly causing Harmony bodily injury, including a black eye, between July 1 and July 22, 2019.
Montgomery has not been in court since the first day of jury selection, waiving his right to appear at Hillsborough County Superior Court in Manchester for the seventh day in a row. He is being held at the state prison in Concord, where he is serving a minimum of 32 years in prison after being convicted of six unrelated felony weapons charges last year.
Smith, who worked for Pelican Transportation, asked her boss not to drive the couple anymore after that confrontation. She now carries pepper spray while on the job.
Smith said Adam Montgomery became enraged and snatched the phone from Smith. He gave it back to her after she said she loved him and was trying to help.
“He softened,” Smith said.
She told prosecutor Benjamin Agati that she never met or saw Harmony. Smith told police, “Kayla is scared of him (Adam), that is why she is tight-lipped.”
Kayla Montgomery testified last week that she wanted to borrow Smith’s phone to call her mother for help.
Home Depot purchases
On Thursday morning, Montgomery’s public defenders, Caroline Smith and James Brooks, filed a request for Judge Amy Messer to reconsider allowing items, including power tools, Montgomery purchased from Home Depot from being presented at trial.
Messer asked the jury — 14 women and three men — to leave the courtroom midmorning to hold a hearing on the request.
Attorney Smith said testimony by Kayla Montgomery and her mother, Christina Lubin, did not line up on the purchase of the power tools.
“The state in their opening alleged Harmony was dismembered by Adam and they are seeking to introduce these tools to suggest Mr. Montgomery had tools to cause that event where there is no connection,” public defender Smith said.
Kayla Montgomery identified the bag of lime bought at Home Depot that Adam Montgomery used, Agati said.
Messer denied the motion to reconsider.
Detective Max Rahill testified that a receipt showed the purchase of a 40-pound bag of lime and a Milwaukee M-18 angle grinder, blade and battery for $396.30 in cash shortly after a $500 withdrawal from a nearby Citizens Bank ATM.
Rahill testified the purchases were made a day before a work order for a clogged tub at the 644 Union St. apartment.
DNA analysis
Much of the testimony Thursday morning surrounded DNA collected throughout the investigation, including apartments, cars and clothes. Katie Swango, a state criminologist, testified she was able to find Harmony’s DNA on a pink “Trolls” electronic toothbrush.
Alan Ackroyd-Isales, a forensic biologist with DNA Labs International in Florida, testified about testing multiple samples from stained drywall taken from the Families in Transition family shelter on Lake Avenue.
The items were compared with DNA profiles of Harmony, Adam Montgomery and Crystal Sorey, Harmony’s biological mother.
One item was metal ceiling framing, which was removed from the drywall. The forensic biologist testified there was “very strong support” that DNA found on it was from Harmony.
“The DNA profile obtained from the sample is approximately 1.4 trillion times more probable if the sample originated from Harmony Montgomery than if it originated from an unknown person,” he said.
The sheet of drywall and metal frames were shown to the jury on Wednesday after being carefully unwrapped by a detective and evidence technician.
Smith questioned the technology, called STRmix, which has been around since 2015.
“It is a respected and trusted tool for forensic analysis,” Ackroyd-Isales said. The cost could be prohibitive for a state lab, he said.
Also Thursday, Dennis Cloutier, a maintenance worker for the owner of 644 Union St., testified about being called to unclog a drain in the apartment after, the prosecution contends, Adam Montgomery allegedly dismembered Harmony’s body in the shower.
He also had to return to fix some lights on the apartment’s ceiling.
“He said he took them down because he thought there were cameras in there,” Cloutier said.
Testimony continues Friday morning.
