The Trial The jury took a little over an hour to find Willingham guilty of capital murder. He was sentenced to death. An Attempt at Appeal Three days before Willingham’s execution, his attorney appealed to then-governor Rick Perry for a stay of execution. The prominent scientist and fire investigator Gerald Hurst had re-evaluated the claims of the arson investigators and stated that the fire might have been accidental after-all. Hurst had tried to recreate the conditions of the original fire and found that his results did not match the observations of the fire investigators. The original investigation had concluded that an accelerant was used to set three separate fires in the Willingham home. These findings were based on indicators of arson that are no longer considered to be accurate. Additionally, in 2000, Johnny Webb had recanted his testimony and declared “Mr. Willingham is innocent of all charges.” He then recanted his recantation. When asked why Willingham would confess to a virtual stranger, Webb said “It is possible I misunderstood what he said. Being locked up in that little cell makes you kind of crazy. My memory is in bits and pieces. And I was on a lot of medication at the time. Everyone knew that. The statute of limitations has run out on perjury, hasn’t it?” New Evidence Watch: “Frontline: Death by Fire” from 33:18 to 38:44. https://www. pbs. org/wgbh/pages/frontline/death-by-f ire/ 1. Describe 3 ways that Hurst interpreted the evidence differently than the case investigators.