On Tuesday, former Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s star Tim Norman takes the stand just days after the mother of murdered victim Andre Montgomery testified. Also present in the courtroom was Norman’s mother and Montgomery’s grandmother, Robbie Montgomery, who created the Sweetie Pie’s restaurant franchise. Norman is accused of being behind a murder-for-hire scheme to kill his nephew and is charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and murder-for-hire. He is also charged with one count of conspiracy to commit wire and mail fraud, with court documents showing Norman took out a life insurance policy on Montgomery for $450,000 two years before the shooting.

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Defense attorney Michael Leonard asked how much money Norman made from the show and working at the restaurant. Norman said he made $5,000 every two weeks, claimed he also received income from the restaurant and then became an owner for one location making $50,000 every week, received money from merchandise with about $5,000 a week and noted he received income from two ATMs, bringing in $1,500 weekly. When asked if he had anything to do with Montgomery’s murder, Norman replied, “No, Sir.” He said his brother, who is Montgomery’s dad, died when Andre was a baby. He said he spent several summers with Montgomery when Montgomery was in high school.

When it came to being a mentor to kids in the community, Norman choked up, saying,

“He was my brother’s kid, so I want to step in and be a father figure. I tried my best to show him right from wrong and be a friend at the same time.”

Norman went on to say that upon his nephew graduating from high school in St. Louis, he moved from his grandmother Miss Robbie’s house and back to Texas but had issues there. So, he moved the 21-year-old into a new apartment, paid for his music school, paid for his apartment, gave him a weekly allowance and provided groceries and clothes. The defense also shared pictures of Montgomery posing with guns. Norman said he was concerned about Montgomery’s lifestyle and that it was suggested he should get a life insurance policy on Montgomery.

“I just try to show them you can make it by doing it regular stuff. You can do hard work, not street life, not being a basketball or football player. They saw us getting rich by selling chicken."

Cross-Examination

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On the stand, Norman said he didn’t understand the insurance lingo, but the prosecutors pointed out he filed his own life insurance application before and asked, “On the application, it asked if you previously were arrested, and you wrote ’no,’ but that was a lie, wasn’t it?” Norman admitted it was. In defendant Terica Ellis’ testimony, she explained how they bought burner phones to stay in touch and then contacted Montgomery to track him. On the stand, Norman said he would use burner phones for his infidelities since he had a significant other at the time.

At 8:03, phone records show Ellis called Norman. Ellis recalled what was said during the phone call. “What the f*** happened? I heard gunshots,” she told the jury. “He said, ‘Don’t worry about it, get on the highway and go home, don’t tell nobody.’” She claims Norman told her to delete her Instagram and to get rid of the phone. Norman denied ever saying that and claimed he didn’t know his nephew was killed at that moment. He said he paid Ellis only $1,000 for sex and $2,000 to help her open a boutique in Memphis.

As of Tuesday afternoon, both sides rested their cases, and closing arguments and instructions for the jury will take place Wednesday morning.