I Killed Sam: A Novel Based on the 1957 Groundbreaking Trial of a Battered Woman

Robert Steadman grew up near Syracuse, New York, the second oldest of five children, and in Michigan, where his dad was hired as the state's financial controller. Bob graduated from Wayne University Law School in February of 1951, earning a bachelor of arts, bachelor of laws, and Juris Doctor Degrees in five and a half years, all while working nights on the Ford Rouge Plant's engine line. Drafted in May of 1951 for the Korean conflict, he completed Officer Candidate School and was discharged as a second lieutenant late in 1953.Steadman had the good fortune of working as assistant prosecutor and as a trial attorney in Flint, providing him with an intensive introduction to trial work. While learning to fly at Flint's Bishop Airport, he met and married his instructor, Bernice Trimble, already a famous racing pilot, in 1959. His aviation expertise led to a position as corporate and trial attorney for Airway Insurance Company in Ann Arbor, where he defended aviation death cases from Massachusetts to Alaska for several years. He turned down the company presidency in 1972, choosing to move to Traverse City instead. Bob was eighty-one in 2009 when he tried and won his last jury case with an award of $400,000 for fraud against a local bank. He then cared for Bernice during her remaining years of illness until he lost her in 2016 after fifty-seven wonderful years. Since 2018, he has led the campaign for a new senior center as president of Senior Center Friends in Traverse City. He continues fishing and hunting pheasants with good friends and his German shorthair pointer, Belle.