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

I Killed Sam is inspired by the true story of a ground-breaking defense of a Flint woman who killed her abusive husband in the mid-1950s—a time when a husband could rape his wife in Michigan without facing criminal charges.
Trial attorney Bob Steadman, 93, was inspired to write I Killed Sam, based on his ground-breaking defense of a battered woman in 1957, when most of the country accepted and supported spouse abuse. Despite the long, legal odds, the fictional attorney Bob Nichols tries a never-before-tried-strategy of positing a dual defense, which, on the surface, appears contradictory: self-defense and temporary insanity. This fictionalized account of the Flint, Michigan, trial is more than a legal trial, replete with unexpected plot turns and the drama of a young, small-town lawyer trying to juggle his obligations to his client and to his fledgling law practice. There’s also romance—Nichols is in love with Betty, the defendant and his high school sweetheart whom he should never have let go. Nichols is tortured by the thought of losing his long-shot, legal gamble, which would mean forever losing Betty to a life sentence in prison.

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"… a compelling legal thriller with a setting that captures a period in history when men could easily go free for sexually molesting and abusing women. The conflict is strong and intelligently handled, the courtroom drama exacting, and the tension building up through each page as Bob looks for ways to win not only the case but also the woman he has come to love so much. It is too realistic, emotionally rich, and unpredictably alluring. It is one of those books you want to experience in a motion picture." —Matthew Novak, The Book Commentary
"This is a brutal tale of torture wrapped in a love story and a courtroom drama. It has the authenticity of Anatomy of a Murder and the pace of Grisham’s best stuff. It could only have been written by the real-life lawyer who handled the case." —Morris Dees, cofounder of the Southern Poverty Law Center
"… a fast-paced courtroom drama that not only illuminates the palpable tension between a defendant and victims, but also lays bare the internal conflict between the judge, counsel, law enforcement, and experts. The historically accurate discussion of domestic violence exposes residual issues that still draw a shadow over justice today. While the author often refers to his 'luck,' preparation is the mother of luck. Every trial lawyer should enjoy reading how the author created his own luck through diligence and hard work." —Philip E. Rodgers Jr., 13th Circuit Court judge (retired)
"My gratitude to Mr. Steadman for writing this important and dramatically told novel. People need to know the long-term, horrible effects that physical and sexual abuse does to a person. My hope is that victims speak out about their experiences and end society’s insistence of sweeping these assaults under the rug." —Joni Ankerson, author of To Kill or Be Killed: A True Crime Memoir from Prison
"… Through his main character’s reflections on events in Darien, Steadman captures perfectly many of the aspects of small-town living, where everybody went to the same high school and knows one another’s business. And through the slow, step-by-step dramatization of the trial, the author wonderfully elicits the workaday, real-world lessons of a career in the law. Steadman deftly escalates the drama both inside and outside the courtroom, and the display of his legal skills in the former setting neatly counterbalances the simple sweetness of how he handles the latter. An effective and engaging legal tale about the trial of an abused wife." —Kirkus Reviews

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.