Evidence After the fire, the police investigation determined that the fire had been started using some form of a liquid accelerant. This evidence included a finding of char patterns in the floor in the shape of "puddles," a finding of multiple starting points of the fire, Webb later told
David Grann, a reporter for
The New Yorker, that he might have been mistaken. Prosecutor John Jackson noted that Webb was considered unreliable, but he later supported an early release from prison for Webb. Webb later sent Jackson a "Motion to Recant Testimony", which declared, "Mr. Willingham is innocent of all charges." Willingham's attorneys were not notified.
James Grigson During the penalty phase of the trial, a prosecutor said that Willingham's tattoo of a skull and
serpent fit the profile of a sociopath. Two medical experts confirmed the theory. One of those experts, a psychologist who had not published any research in the field of sociopathic behavior, but only held a master's degree in marriage and family issues was asked to interpret Willingham's
Iron Maiden poster. He said that a picture of a fist punching through a skull signified violence and death. He added that Willingham's
Led Zeppelin poster of a fallen angel was "many times" an indicator of "cultive-type" activities. The APA said that Grigson had violated the organization's ethics code by "Arriving at a psychiatric diagnosis without first having examined the individuals in question, and for indicating, while testifying in court as an expert witness, that he could predict with 100 per cent certainty that the individuals would engage in future violent acts."
Witnesses to the event and days after The prosecution sought to establish that Willingham's conduct at the time of the fire and in the days afterward was suspicious. As the fire took hold, Willingham was driven out through the front door of his house, where he crouched down near the entrance. On seeing neighbor Diane Barbee, Willingham began to shout at her to call 911, shouting "My babies are in there!" According to their sworn statements, both Brandice Barbee and Diane Barbee urged Willingham to return to the house to rescue his children. According to Brandice Barbee, "All I could see was smoke." On returning to the scene of the fire with firefighter Ron Franks, in an effort to recover personal property (which was described as a very usual request at trial), Willingham was visibly dismayed at being unable to find a dart set. At a local bar, where a fundraiser was held for the Willingham family, he placed an order for a replacement set, stating that "money was not a problem now." The prosecutor claimed the fire that killed the children was the third attempt by Willingham to kill them, and that he had attempted to
abort each of his wife's two pregnancies by kicking her in order to cause
miscarriages. During his trial in August 1992, he was offered a
life term in exchange for a
guilty plea, which he turned down, insisting he was innocent. At trial, the fire investigator Manuel Vasquez testified there were three points of origin for the fire, which indicated that the fire was "intentionally set by human hands." Grann, however, said fire investigators who reviewed the case told him that "Willingham's first-degree and second-degree burns were consistent with being in a fire before the moment of '
flashover' — that is, when everything in a room suddenly ignites." Commenting on the condition of the house, Jackson added, "Any escape or rescue route from the burning house was blocked by a refrigerator, which had been pushed against the back door, requiring any person attempting an escape to run through the conflagration at the front of the house." There were two refrigerators in the Willingham house. Jimmie Hensley, a police detective, and Douglas Fogg, the assistant fire chief — who both investigated the fire — told Grann that they had never believed that the refrigerator was part of the arson plot. "It didn't have [anything] to do with the fire," Fogg said. Jackson contradicted Willingham's account by claiming
blood gas analysis at Navarro Regional Hospital shortly after the fire revealed that Willingham had not inhaled any smoke. Willingham's statement and eyewitness accounts had detailed rescue attempts. Consistent with typical Navarro County death penalty practice, Willingham was offered the opportunity to eliminate himself as a suspect by
polygraph examination, which Willingham rejected, according to Jackson. Against the advice of his own counsel, Willingham declined a life sentence in exchange for his guilty plea. He insisted he would not admit to something he had not done, even if it meant sparing his life. During his trial, Willingham did not testify; the defense called only one witness, the Willinghams' babysitter, who stated that she believed that Willingham could not have killed his children. ==Appeals, incarceration, and execution==