James Tim Norman, the reality series ‘Welcome To Sweetie Pie’s star, has been sentenced to life in prison for his murder-for-hire plot against his nephew Andre Montgomery Jr. in 2016.
Montgomery Jr. was 21 years old. Norman was convicted of murder-for-hire, conspiracy to commit mail and wire fraud. Prosecutors said he tried cashing a life insurance policy on Andre worth $450,000 after working with a woman named Terica Ellis to pull off the killing.
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Ellis was charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and has pled guilty. She was sentenced in January to three years behind bars.
Earlier in September, the jury spent over 17 hours deliberating and determining a final verdict. Norman was held guilty of all charges, including conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire, a murder-for-hire which concluded to a death and mail fraud.
Norman was given two life sentences on Thursday for the murder-for-hire counts and a 240-month sentence for the court of mail fraud.
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Norman was accused of being the mastermind behind nephew’s death in 2016, earlier in 2020. Court filings showed he took out a life insurance policy of $450,000 in 2014.
Since last week, his attorneys pointed out several arguments to keep him from receiving a life sentence. In an analysis, he talked about Norman’s troubled childhood and his efforts to pay back to the community as an adult.
The court documents read, “In sum, the history and characteristics of Mr. Norman strongly favor a sentence that is no more than 20 years.” It also included multiple letters from Norman’s supporters including his mother, Robbie Montgomery.
Robbie Montgomery wrote to the judge, “I am writing to you to ask for mercy for my son.” Family members, some of whom wore yellow shirts in memory of Montgomery, embraced outside the court building after Thursday’s sentence announcement.
