Former “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” star Tim Norman shared a message on Instagram on Feb. 23 professing his innocence.
Norman was convicted last September of arranging the murder of his 21-year-old nephew Andre Montgomery in St. Louis, Missouri, back in 2016.
Norman starred on the OWN reality show about his family’s soul food restaurant with his mother, Robbie Montgomery, as well as his nephew. The 44-year-old was convicted on federal charges of murder-for-hire and conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud.
Norman’s Instagram post was captioned “#innocent.”
“Thank you for all the prayers. I’m still in disbelief. The feds know 100% I did not do those
insurance policies,” he wrote. “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.”
The jury found Norman guilty of paying an exotic dancer named Terica Ellis $10,000 to find Hill’s whereabouts before paying then-30-year-old Travell Hill to kill Montgomery. Hill later testified during Norman’s federal trial to being paid $5,000 to kill the reality star. Norman’s insurance agent, Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, also pleaded guilty to wire fraud and conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
According to the St. Louis Dispatch, Norman tearfully testified that he had only asked for help finding his nephew to ask him about a burglary at his mother’s house. Montgomery had reportedly left St. Louis after his aunt’s house was robbed of $220,000 in jewelry and cash in June of 2015. Norman claimed he wanted to question his nephew about the break-in, and several people testified that the two were close. Montgomery died after being shot several times by Hill.
Norman’s defense lawyer Michael Leonard claimed in his closing arguments that Hill admitted to using heavy drugs and was “hopped up on drugs” on the day of Montgomery’s death.
Montgomery’s sister, Kalyn Griggs, said that her brother was afraid of his uncle prior to his murder and called him a “monster” outside of the courthouse following the guilty verdict. She also said Montgomery told her, “I gonna be one of God’s soldiers,” if he went home to St. Louis.
