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| Photo Credit: AP. |
ST. LOUIS (AP) — A federal jury on Friday convicted a former star of the St. Louis-based reality TV show “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” of arranging the shooting death of his nephew.
The jury
deliberated about 17 hours over three days before reaching its verdict in the
murder-for-hire case against James “Tim” Norman, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch
reported. He was charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire,
murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud.
Norman and
his nephew, Andre Montgomery, both starred in the long-running OWN reality show
about a popular soul-food business founded in the St. Louis area by Robbie
Montgomery — Norman’s mother and Andre’s grandmother.
Prosecutors
are not seeking the death penalty but Norman could be sentenced to up to life
in prison. Sentencing is set for Dec. 15.
Federal
prosecutors said Norman, 43, hired two people to kill the 21-year-old
Montgomery on March 14, 2016, then tried to cash a $450,000 life insurance
policy taken out on his nephew months earlier.
Defense
attorney Michael Leonard said after the verdict that he and Norman were
“extremely surprised and disappointed in the outcome” of the case. He said they
plan to appeal and that Norman continues to be optimistic that he will
eventually prevail.
Leonard said
the testimony during the trial of two co-conspirators was shown to be
“extremely non-credible.” And he said Norman testified well during the trial,
noting he was not cross-examined.
U.S.
Attorney Sayler Fleming said she was “very, very pleased” with the verdict but
that her office would make no further statements until after the sentencing.
During
closing arguments, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angie Danis said Norman was the
architect of the plan to kill Montgomery.
“This plan
doesn’t exist but for Tim Norman’s greed,” Danis said.
Leonard
argued in his closing argument that the murder plot presented by prosecutors
was a “made up theory.”
Prosecutors
said Norman paid $10,000 to an exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, to lure his nephew
to the site where he was shot and paid $5,000 to Travell Anthony Hill to shoot
Montgomery.
Ellis and
Hill both testified for the prosecution in the case. They have both pleaded
guilty to participating in the scheme.
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.