Two sequels, The Silver Dream (2013) and Eternity's Wheel (2015), were conceptualized by Gaiman and Reaves and written by Reaves and his daughter Mallory.
Reaves prepared for him a state writ of habeas corpus, known as a Great Writ.
After their pleas, Hurst had agreed to look at the case pro bono, and Reaves, Willingham's lawyer, had sent him the relevant documents, in the hope that there were grounds for clemency.
Reaves could not offer an explanation: the board deliberates in secret, and its members are not bound by any specific criteria.
Reaves said of the board members, "They never asked me to attend a hearing or answer any questions".
Reaves told him that the fifteen members of the Board of Pardons and Paroles, which reviews an application for clemency and had been sent Hurst's report, had made their decision.
Although Reaves was more competent, he had few resources to reinvestigate the case, and his writ introduced no new exculpatory evidence: nothing further about Webb, or the reliability of the eyewitness testimony, or the credibility of the medical experts.
Though Reaves told Willingham that there was still a chance that Governor Perry might grant a thirty-day stay, Willingham began to prepare his last will and testament.
On February 13th, four days before Willingham was scheduled to be executed, he got a call from Reaves, his attorney.
Gilbert says that she would send Reaves leads to follow up, but although he was sympathetic, nothing seemed to come of them.
Reaves found out that his sister's husband was leaving for Los Angeles while he was sitting in a restaurant watching television.
