ST. LOUIS — Prosecutors opened the high-profile St. Louis murder-for-hire trial of James “Tim” Norman on Tuesday with descriptions of a reality TV star desperate for money who conspired to have his nephew killed.
Norman’s defense painted a dramatically different picture: Attorney Michael Leonard argued the trial will instead reveal his client was a concerned uncle and successful celebrity who hoped to confront, but not hurt, his nephew.
• Update: Tim Norman receives two life sentences
Norman stands accused of orchestrating the 2016 murder of 21-year-old Andre Montgomery Jr., then attempting to cash out up to $450,000 in fraudulent life insurance he took out on his nephew. The trial marks the culmination of an elaborate criminal case that’s captured national attention for years.
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Andre Montgomery Jr., grandson of Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery, is seen on March 25, 2012, when Oprah Winfrey made a trip to St. Louis to surprise the cast of OWN’s “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” series. (George Burns, Harpo Productions)
Both Norman and Montgomery starred in “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” a long-running OWN reality show about the popular soul-food business Norman’s mother, Robbie Montgomery, founded in the St. Louis area.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Gwendolyn Carroll opened the case for the prosecution Tuesday focusing on Norman’s role and motives in every step of the alleged scheme.
“The evidence will prove it is actually a very simple plan,” Carroll said.
Prosecutors plan to rely on text messages, recorded jail calls, location tracking, money trails and statements from three alleged co-conspirators who pleaded guilty and implicated Norman in the case this summer.
The prosecution aims to prove Norman hired an exotic dancer, Terica Ellis, to lure Montgomery outside where he was shot by Travell Anthony Hill, in the 3900 block of Natural Bridge Drive. According to guilty plea agreements with prosecutors, Ellis said Norman paid her $10,000; Hill pleaded to receiving $5,000 indirectly from Norman in the days after the death.
Norman
Carroll told jurors Norman then attempted to cash in on the $450,000 in life insurance he took out with the help of an insurance agent, Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, before the killing. Yaghnam pleaded guilty to wire fraud in July.
But Leonard, Norman’s defense attorney, argued in his opening statement that jurors should instead view Norman as mentor for a nephew who had lost his way.
“Tim always felt a special bond with Andre,” Leonard said. “And he felt a special responsibility.”
Leonard said alternate motives for all of Norman’s actions will emerge, including that Norman took out life insurance on his nephew because he was concerned that Montgomery’s aspiring rap career, which focused on street beefs, would get him killed.
Leonard described to jurors the death of Norman’s father before he was born “into tragedy many years ago” and detailed Norman’s rise to fame after selling the script for “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” to Oprah Winfrey’s TV network.
Family matriarch and Sweetie Pie’s owner Robbie Montgomery, Leonard said, “raised Tim with values.”
And Norman didn’t need the insurance money, Leonard continued. He was leading a life of luxury.
“He had as many cars as I’ve got fingers and thumbs,” Leonard said.
It was no secret Norman was looking for his nephew, the defense attorney said.
“To kill him? No,” Leonard told jurors. “To get back the loot he stole from his mother.”
First witnesses
FBI Special Agent Christopher Faber testified that Andre Montgomery texted his grandmother — Robbie Montgomery — that he feared his uncle after a burglary at Robbie’s north St. Louis County home in 2015.
Robbie reported the burglary while she was on vacation in June that year, according to a police report. At least $220,000 worth of cash, jewelry and other items were stolen.
In the texts, Andre told his grandmother he left the St. Louis area shortly after to avoid Norman. Faber testified Tuesday that Andre agreed to return to take a polygraph test with police — but didn’t want to stay long.
“TIM IS AFTER ME OR SOMETHING,” wrote Andre in one message to his grandmother. “I’m not just bout to be sitting in STL (when) I know Tim got people looking for me.”
Four days after the polygraph test, Andre was killed.
Faber’s testimony also included texts from Norman to a cousin about two months before the killing, claiming that he had recently been evicted from his St. Louis apartment and had more than $91,000 in monthly expenses with no money coming in while the TV show was on hiatus.
Andre Montgomery’s mother, Michell Griggs, also testified Tuesday, telling jurors she did not receive a call from Norman in the immediate aftermath of the death, but that he attended her son’s funeral and told her he was sorry for her loss.
Andre joined “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s,” which ran for five seasons on OWN, around 2011 after he came to live with Robbie. His father was killed in a 1995 stabbing, so Andre grew up with Griggs in Lubbock, Texas, and would spend summers in St. Louis with his grandmother, his mother testified.
Andre was a paid cast member of “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” until 2013, appearing in a chicken costume in scenes promoting the family restaurant, pursuing a rap career and graduating from McCluer North High School.
After the charges, clips from “Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s” circulated online showing Norman mourning the death he is now accused of setting up.
Norman visited the scene of the killing with his mother and TV cameras in a clip published in 2016.
“Since Andre’s passing I haven’t gone through this part of the city,” Norman is recorded saying. “Really, I’ve been avoiding it.”
Twelve jurors and three alternates were selected from a pool of 60 Tuesday, with 35% of the jury pool telling U.S. District Judge John Ross they had heard about the case from friends or media reports before the trial.
The trial is expected to involve more than 100 pieces of evidence and last into next week.
This story has been updated to correct the name of an Assistant U.S. Attorney.
