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Description: St. Louis, Missouri criminal law lawyer represented Defendant charged with conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire.
Travell Anthony Hill, 31, pleaded guilty in June to one count of conspiracy to commit murder-for-hire and one count of murder-for-hire in the death of Andre Montgomery Jr. on March 14, 2016.
In court Thursday, Hill re-affirmed what he’d admitted in his plea agreement. He admitted meeting with Montgomery’s uncle, James Timothy Norman, on the day of the murder. He admitted understanding that Norman wanted Montgomery killed, and that a woman would provide him Montgomery’s location so he could commit the murder.
Hill then obtained a .380-caliber handgun and fatally shot Montgomery, 21, at 3964 Natural Bridge Avenue in St. Louis after the woman lured Montgomery outside. Hill disposed of the gun and his phone and was paid $5,000 two days later.
Hill testified at Norman’s trial in September, before jurors convicted Norman, 43, of murder-for-hire and insurance fraud charges.
In court Thursday, Montgomery’s brother, Darren Griggs spoke of the effect of the murder on his family, saying, “We’re not whole and we never will be again.”
Judge Ross called Hill’s ambush of Montgomery “incredibly cold and callous” before stating Hill’s sentence.
Norman, of Jackson, Mississippi, is scheduled to be sentenced March 2.
Norman and Montgomery appeared on the reality show Welcome to Sweetie Pie’s. Norman arranged for his nephew’s murder after fraudulently obtaining a life insurance policy worth $450,000 on Montgomery.
Ellis and the insurance agent, and Waiel “Wally” Rebhi Yaghnam, 44, both pleaded guilty on July 22. Ellis, an exotic dancer from Memphis, Tennessee who was paid $10,000 for locating Norman, pleaded guilty to the murder-for-hire conspiracy charge. Yaghnam pleaded guilty to a charge of wire and mail fraud conspiracy and admitted submitting five separate life insurance applications containing numerous false statements about Montgomery and then helping Norman file a claim.
Yaghnam is scheduled to be sentenced November 1 and Ellis on January 10.
The FBI and the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department investigated this case. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Angie Danis and Gwendolyn Carroll are prosecuting the case.
18 U.S.C. 1958 provides:
(a) Whoever travels in or causes another (including the intended victim) to travel in interstate or foreign commerce, or uses or causes another (including the intended victim) to use the mail or any facility of interstate or foreign commerce, with intent that a murder be committed in violation of the laws of any State or the United States as consideration for the receipt of, or as consideration for a promise or agreement to pay, anything of pecuniary value, or who conspires to do so, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than ten years, or both; and if personal injury results, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned for not more than twenty years, or both; and if death results, shall be punished by death or life imprisonment, or shall be fined not more than $250,000, or both.
(b) As used in this section and section 1959—
(1) “anything of pecuniary value” means anything of value in the form of money, a negotiable instrument, a commercial interest, or anything else the primary significance of which is economic advantage;
(2) “facility of interstate or foreign commerce” includes means of transportation and communication; and
(3) “State” includes a State of the United States, the District of Columbia, and any commonwealth, territory, or possession of the United States.
Outcome: The defendant was committed to the custody of the United States Bureau of Prisons to be imprisoned for a total term of: 384 months. This term consists of a term 384 months on each of counts one and two, all such terms to be served concurrently. Upon release from imprisonment, the defendant shall be on supervised release for a term of: five years. This term consists of a term of five years on each of counts one and two, all such terms to run concurrently. Special Assessment of $200.00 due immediately.
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