The trial for former Welcome to Sweetie Pies star Tim Norman, who is accused of orchestrating a murder-for-hire plot that left his 21-year-old nephew Andre Montgomery dead in 2016, is now underway. Three associates of Norman’s have already pled guilty to their involvement in the scheme. On Tuesday, the first witness to take the stand was Montgomery’s mother, Michelle Griggs, who told the jury that Norman told her he would look after her son, but the reality star never approached her about the 21-year-old’s loss until the day of his funeral where he simply said, “I’m sorry for your loss.” Griggs added Norman wanted her son to come to St. Louis so he could teach him how to be a man and asked her for Montgomery’s diploma, birth certificate and social security and said he would look after him.

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The second witness was FBI special agent Chris Faber, who went through a series of text messages Tim Norman sent. Faber revealed that Norman sent many text messages that had to do with Montgomery’s death. One text exchange that was mentioned was between Norman and his insurance agent Waiel Rebhi Yaghnam, who’s already pleaded guilty. The texts showed Norman asking for five insurance applications. Nearly six months before his nephew’s murder, Norman sent Yaghnam a message saying, “Montgomery may not make it six months.” There was another text where Montgomery wrote to his grandmother, Robbie Montgomery,

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.

“TIM IS AFTER ME OR SOMETHING. I’m not just bout to be sitting in STL (when) I know Tim got people looking for me.”

Tim Norman Claims Arrest is Due to his Black Lives Matter Connections

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Riverfront Times reported that a journalist researching a potential podcast about Montgomery’s murder contacted the 43-year-old by letter while he was in custody at St. Genevieve County Jail awaiting trial and received a five-page letter in return. Norman, who referred to himself as the “T.V. Dude,” claimed he was being targeted by the government because of his participation in the protests after the police killing of unarmed teenager Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, in August 2014.

Without providing evidence, the former Sweetie Pies star wrote:

He has also voiced complaints about life behind bars.

“There were cops on Kim Gardner’s bad cop list after this T.V. dude for years. The Fraternal order has been messing with T.V. dude ever since the Mike Brown stuff…T.V. dude was really out there protesting with a lot of employees. His mom warned him.”

On Tuesday, twelve jurors and three alternates were selected from a pool of 60, 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.

“These guys are always fighting over the T.V. and what’s on it. Literally fighting. I’m too old to be getting into fist fights over watching Jerry Springer.”