A one-time reality TV personality who gained fame on a show about his mother’s Missouri soul food restaurant has been found guilty of ordering a hit on his own nephew to cash in on a life insurance policy he had taken out on the young man.
On Friday, James Timothy “Tim” Norman, 43, was found guilty of two counts of federal murder-for-hire and one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud in the investigation. Prosecutors with the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said Norman, the son of Robbie Montgomery, who founded Sweetie Pie’s in 1996, took out a $450,000 life insurance policy in 2015 on his nephew, Andre Montgomery Jr., naming himself as the sole beneficiary.
After almost 17 hours of deliberation, the jury found Tim guilty on all charges. The panel concluded that on March 14, 2016, Tim hired two people to murder Andre, who was 21 years old. They concluded that Tim sought to cash in a $450,000 life insurance policy on his nephew that was taken out months earlier.
Tim broke into tears during more than four hours of testimony, telling the jury he enlisted Ellis and Hill to find his nephew, but not kill him. He said he wanted to confront Andre about a recent burglary at his mother’s home.
“I’m extraordinarily surprised and disappointed,” said Tim‘s defense attorn
According to the prosecution, Tim hired an exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, for $10,000 to entice Andre to the crime scene. They further claimed that Tim paid $5,000 to another individual, Travell Anthony Hill, to kill Andre. The suspected shooter and the dancer both gave depositions against the reality TV personality.
More details of this story from the Western Journal report:
In testimony during the trial, Norman said he helped his nephew move to St. Louis about 18 months before he was killed and supported him financially because he was trying to watch out for Montgomery. He said he sought to be a “father figure” to his brother’s son.
Former Sweetie Pie’s employees and other character witnesses testified that Norman and his nephew had a close relationship.
Danis said all the testimony from the scheme’s co-conspirators was backed up in trial by texts, call records and location data.
She said Norman created “an image of being a mentor and a father figure to all these people, but it’s fiction.”
Leonard said during his closing argument that Ellis testified to get a shorter sentence and said Hill admitted he was a heavy drug user and that he was “hopped up on drugs that day.”
Norman testified Tuesday that he took out the life insurance policy on his nephew to give a longtime customer of the family restaurants, Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, some business.
Yaghnam pleaded guilty in July to conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and wire fraud in the case.
Montgomery left St. Louis after at least $220,000 in cash, jewelry and other items were stolen in a June 2015 burglary at Robbie Montgomery’s home.
Norman told jurors he and his mother hired a private investigator to find and confront his nephew about the robbery but he had no intention of hurting him.
Watch the video report here: NBC News/Youtube
Sources: WesternJournal, AP news
