Norman and his family were featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network show.
James Timothy Norman, who was featured on the Oprah Winfrey Network show Welcome to Sweetie Pie's, has been sentenced to life in federal prison following his conviction for arranging the 2016 murder of his nephew.
Norman learned his fate on Thursday morning in St. Louis federal court following the week-long trial back in September. The jury deliberated for 17 hours and determined he was guilty of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud in the fatal shooting of his 20-year-old nephew, Andre Montgomery.
According to the Justice Department, Norman took out a life insurance policy worth $450,000 on Montgomery in 2014 before hiring three individuals to carry out the murder on March 14, 2016.
"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," said U.S. Attorney Sayler A. Fleming in a news release. "Although Andre’s family was robbed of their loved one, hopefully this result will provide some measure of peace and justice for them."
U.S. Attorney Angie Danis said during Thursday's sentencing hearing that Norman "portrayed one image to the public, but there were more sinister intentions lurking underneath." She added that "when he thought no one was watching, he planned the execution of his nephew and carried it out."
Authorities said the shooter, a 31-year-old man from St. Louis, pleaded guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire and admitted to fatally shooting Montgomery with a .380-caliber handgun. The shooter, who was paid $5,000 to commit the crime, was sentenced to 32 years in prison back in October.
A 39-year-old woman was sentenced to three years in prison in January after she pleaded guilty to the murder-for-hire-conspiracy charge. Authorities said she admitted Norman paid her $10,000 to find Montgomery and pass along his location. A fourth person, an insurance agent, was sentenced to three years in prison in November after he pleaded guilty to a charge of wire and mail fraud conspiracy and admitted fraudulently helping the disgraced reality TV star apply for multiple insurance policies. Authorities said the insurance agent then helped Norman file a claim on Montgomery's life insurance policy following his death.
"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," said Special Agent in Charge Jay Greenberg of the FBI St. Louis Division. "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."
Just a week ago, Norman took to Instagram and proclaimed his innocence.
"Thank you for all the prayers. I’m still in disbelief. The feds know 100% I did not do those insurance policies," he wrote in a post. "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 for the truth."
He signed off with the hashtag "innocent."
Welcome to Sweetie Pie's had a nine-season run (100 episodes) on the Oprah Winfrey Network. It premiered in 2011 and ended in 2018. Norman and Montgomery were featured on the show, which focused on a family running soul food restaurants in St. Louis.
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