Welcome to Sweetie Pie's star Tim Norman sentenced to life in federal prison
- Oops!Something went wrong.Please try again later.
Former Welcome to Sweetie Pie's star Tim Norman was sentenced to life in prison Thursday, per a press release from the U.S. Attorney's Office, Eastern District of Missouri. The decision comes six months after the soul food restaurateur, born James Timothy Norman, was convicted of killing his nephew in a murder-for-hire plot.
In September, Norman was found guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire, and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in relation to the March 2016 shooting of his 20-year-old nephew Andre Montgomery. According to the release, Norman "took out a life insurance policy worth $450,000 on Montgomery, then arranged through intermediaries for his nephew's murder."
Both Norman and Montgomery appeared on Welcome to Sweetie Pie's, a reality series about former Ikette Robbie Montgomery and her family's collection of soul food restaurants, which ran on OWN from 2011-2018. Norman is the son of Robbie, who began as part of a trio of backing vocalists for the Ike and Tina Turner Revue. The Ikettes later found success in their own right with hits like "I'm Blue (The Gong-Gong Song)" and "Peaches 'N' Cream."
During Thursday's sentencing, Assistant U.S. Attorney Angie Danis said that Norman's personality was different from his onscreen persona. "Tim Norman portrayed one image to the public, but there were more sinister intentions lurking underneath," she said. "And the measure of someone's character is what they do when they think no one is watching. When he thought no one was watching, he planned the execution of his nephew and carried it out."
Robin Marchant/Getty Images Tim Norman
U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming said in the release that they hoped Norman's life sentence would "provide some measure of peace and justice" for Montgomery's family after they were "robbed of their loved one."
Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division also noted that Norman was the only one among his three co-conspirators — Travell Anthony Hill, Terica Taneisha Ellis, and Waiel "Wally" Rebhi Yaghnam — that hadn't yet "accepted responsibility" for their involvement in Montgomery's death "despite the fact 12 jurors unanimously convicted him after seeing and hearing seven days of evidence in trial."
Last week, Norman posted a screenshot statement on Instagram with the caption "#innocent." It read, "Thank you for all the prayers. I'm still in disbelief. The feds know 100% I did not do those insurance policies. But the jury didn't get to hear that. And not one person got on the stand and said that I told them to hurt my nephew. They destroyed my name and image so you guys wouldn't search the truth."
All of Norman's co-conspirators have since received their own sentences for their involvement in the crime. Hill, who was later paid $5,000 after shooting Montgomery, was sentenced to 32 years in prison in October after previously pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire.
In January, Ellis, who was paid $10,000 after relaying Montgomery's location, received three years in prison after she pleaded guilty to a murder-for-hire conspiracy charge. And Yaghnam, who helped Norman file a claim on Montgomery's life insurance policy after his death, was sentenced to three years in prison in November after pleading guilty to wire and mail fraud conspiracy charges.
Related content:
