GUILTY TX - Braylen Smalls, 2, killed in arson fire, Carrollton, 27 Aug 2010

Smalls testified that Barnett became angry with him the night before the fire because she thought he was talking to another woman at a restaurant...

Smalls testified that he fell asleep while Barnett was getting ready to leave. He heard “some clicking sounds” and saw Barnett standing at the end of his bed holding a lighter and a bed sheet... As he tried unsuccessfully to extinguish the flames, he told jurors that Barnett stood watching him with her arms folded and mumbled, “Let me see you put that out,” he told the courtroom.

Smalls testified that his three older children from a previous marriage were able to escape to the roof, but they were unable to reach Braylen and Bryson... so he climbed on the roof and broke a window to the smoke-filled room where the boys were screaming. “It felt like hell,” testified Smalls, who sobbed as he described his attempts to reach the boys and how he was able to pull only Bryson to safety.

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A trial set for Monday was canceled after a woman accused of setting a deadly Carrollton house fire reached a plea deal with Denton County prosecutors.

Toni Renee Barnett, 46, received an eight-year prison term for manslaughter and two years for aggravated assault for setting the the Aug. 27, 2010, blaze that killed 2-year-old Braylen Smalls, the son of a man she was dating.

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