‘Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s‘ star James ‘Tim’ Norman was convicted of commissioning the murder-for-hire plot that killed his nephew and co-star in 2016.
On Friday, Norman, 41, was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the March 2016 shooting death of his nephew Andre Montgomery Jr..
The verdict came after a jury deliberated tryingly for 17 hours, spanning over three days.
Norman arranged the murder of his nephew through intermediaries in an attempt to cash out on a $450,000 fraudulent life insurance policy that he took out on Montgomery in 2015.
The life insurance policy included numerous false statements regarding Montgomery’s income, net worth, medical history, employment and family background.
Norman’s co-defendants including Travell Anthony Hill, Terica Ellis and Waiel “Wally” Rebhi Yaghnam plead guilty before trial.
“On the day of Montgomery’s death, Hill and Norman met in St. Louis and Norman told Hill that a woman would be calling with Montgomery’s location,” the release stated. “After receiving a call from the woman, Terica Ellis, Hill fatally shot Montgomery with a .380-caliber handgun at 8:02 p.m. and then disposed of the gun and his phone. He was later paid $5,000.”
Norman was arrested on federal charges and was booked into the Madison County Detention Center on Tuesday in August 2020.
It was discovered after investigation, Norman conspired with Ellis, an exotic dancer, to kill his nephew so that he could get the life insurance payout.
“There exists probable cause to believe that James Timothy Norman conspired with Terica Ellis and/or others known or unknown to investigators at this time to use a facility of interstate commerce, namely, a cellular telephone, to commit a murder-for-hire in exchange for United States currency,” the complaint stated.
Norman took out multiple life insurance policies on Montgomery in 2014, listing himself as the sole beneficiary. Those policies include a life insurance policy for $250,000 through Americo Insurance Company, as well as two different policies through Foresters Insurance for $200,000 and $250,000.
In 2015, he attempted to obtain a replacement policy through Foresters Insurance, but was denied.
Norman appeared with Montgomery on OWN Network’s Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s, which documented their family’s soul-food business, for nine seasons from 2011 to 2018.
Now he’ll be Mike Farrells new cause, the liberals in hollywood love a good murderer.