The state’s high courtroom has dominated that the audio from the custody listening to of a woman who was later killed by her father can be launched to a filmmaker.
Essex Juvenile Courtroom has refused handy over the audio recording of the 2019 juvenile care and safety listening to — throughout which the custody of 4-year-old Concord Montgomery was given to her father, Adam Montgomery.
Shortly after the custody resolution, Concord was killed by Adam Montgomery, who was convicted and sentenced final yr to 56 years to life in jail for her homicide.
Police consider that the 34-year-old man killed Concord in 2019. She wasn’t reported lacking for almost two years. The woman’s physique has by no means been discovered.
There was widespread publicity within the wake of Concord’s disappearance and dying, together with considerations concerning the dealing with of her care and custody by authorities in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. A documentary filmmaker has been making an attempt to shine a light-weight on the custody hearings in Essex Juvenile Courtroom, and now the state Supreme Judicial Courtroom has dominated in his favor to launch audio of the listening to at which state officers awarded custody to Adam Montgomery.
“We conclude that the journalist has demonstrated good cause for the release of those recordings to him for use in the documentary,” the SJC wrote in its Wednesday ruling. “We vacate the order of the second judge denying the journalist’s motion and order the release of the February 2019 hearing recordings to the journalist.”
“The journalist asserts that the reason for his request is to use the audio recordings of the custody hearings in connection with a documentary concerning the child welfare system,” the justices added. “Releasing these recordings to the journalist for purposes of the documentary he proposes may help to better inform the public both about what happened to this child specifically and whether there are steps the child welfare system generally can take to minimize the possibility of repeating this tragedy.”
The case was introduced earlier than the courtroom by LCMedia Productions, Inc., and founder Invoice Lichtenstein. He’s filming “Broken,” a documentary that explores the secrecy of Massachusetts’ little one safety and juvenile courtroom programs.
“A significant impediment to protecting children in the Massachusetts foster court and juvenile court systems has been their absolute unconditional secrecy,” Lichtenstein mentioned in an announcement. “This decision brings sunlight to these vital issues to help protect children and families.”
Adam Montgomery attacked Concord within the early morning hours of December 7, 2019, police mentioned. He reportedly struck Concord on her head and face as a result of she had a toilet accident.
Then, a number of hours after the primary assault, Concord had one other rest room accident, and Montgomery attacked her once more, in accordance with police and courtroom proceedings. This assault was much more extreme.
Within the two years after Montgomery killed his daughter, he reportedly informed witnesses that Concord’s mom had taken her to Massachusetts and that he was visiting her. Montgomery promised officers that Concord was alive and properly, residing along with her mom.
An impartial evaluate in 2022 discovered the Massachusetts little one safety system did not prioritize the woman’s wants. Concord Montgomery suffered from a ripple impact of “miscalculations of risk and unequal weight placed on parents’ rights versus a child’s wellbeing,” mentioned Maria Mossaides, head of Massachusetts’ Workplace of the Baby Advocate.
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