‘Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s’ Star Tim Norman Sentenced to Life in Prison for Nephew’s Killing

Tim Norman Screengrab (Credit: YouTube/OWN)

Convicted reality star James ‘Tim’ Norman has been sentenced to life in prison for his role in the 2016 murder-for-hire killing of his nephew, 21-year-old Andre Montgomery Jr.

A federal judge in St. Louis handed down the sentence on Thursday, March 2, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Missouri said in a press release.

Norman arranged the shooting death of his nephew on March 14, 2016, to collect a life insurance payment, according to prosecutors.

“Tim Norman sought to make $450,000 by having his nephew, Andre Montgomery, killed. Instead, he was caught and will spend the rest of his life in prison,” U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said in a statement. “Although Andre’s family was robbed of their loved one, hopefully this result will provide some measure of peace and justice for them.”

Both Norman and Montgomery appeared on the OWN reality series Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s. The show centered on St. Louis soul food chain Sweetie Pie’s, which was founded by Robbie Montgomery, Tim’s mother and Andre’s grandmother. The show ran from 2011 to 2018.

Related Story: ‘Sweetie Pie’s’ Star Tim Norman Found Guilty in Murder-for-Hire Trial

Tim Norman maintained his innocence on social media. (Credit: Instagram)
Tim Norman maintained his innocence on social media. (Credit: Instagram)

Norman, 43, did not speak at the sentencing hearing,” the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

His attorneys gave the court letters from his family and friends pleading for leniency. Norman’s mother Robbie Montgomery expressed her love for her son in one of the letters.

“I don’t know whether Tim did what he was accused and convicted of,” Montgomery wrote. “He is still the baby that I bore, and I love him as every mother involved loves their child.”

U.S. District Judge John A. Ross called the crime “a cold-blooded, incredibly premeditated, planned execution.”

Norman was found guilty of two counts of federal murder-for-hire, and one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, in September 2022.

He has continued to maintain his innocence, and insisted in a Feb. 23 Instagram post that investigators got the case wrong.

“I’m still in disbelief. The feds knew 100% I did not do those insurance policies. But the jury didn’t get to hear that,” Norman wrote in the post. “They destroyed my name and image so you guys wouldn’t search for the truth.”

A total of four people were convicted in the case. All three of Norman’s co-defendants pleaded guilty before going to trial, as previously reported.

Travell Anthony Hill pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire. He was sentenced to 32 years in prison in October. Prosecutors said Hill fatally shot Montgomery with a .380-caliber handgun and then disposed of the gun and his phone. He was paid $5,000 for the killing.

Terica Ellis pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire conspiracy charge, and was sentenced to three years in prison in January. She was paid $10,000 for finding Montgomery and passing along his location.

Waiel “Wally” Rebhi Yaghnam pleaded guilty to a charge of wire and mail fraud conspiracy. Following Montgomery’s murder, Yaghnam helped Norman file a claim on Montgomery’s life insurance policy. Yaghnam was sentenced to three years in prison in November.

“Five families, especially that of the victim, are suffering and irreparably harmed as a result of Norman’s plot to have his own nephew murdered,” Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division said in the news release. “At least all his co-conspirators have accepted responsibility. To this day, Norman hasn’t accepted responsibility despite the fact 12 jurors unanimously convicted him after seeing and hearing seven days of evidence in trial.”