Well you certainly couldn't have free-will without consciousness could you? And you can only have free-will if you acknowedge that there is a 'right' and 'wrong' answer for every action. And I personally don't think that is so. I think free-will is a concept of Christian (and maybe other) faith to get God out of a tight spot when things go wrong. The answer is that if one were to follow God's path for us things would be good, but we didn't- so it isn't. It doesn't quite cover babies dying of awful diseases- but can be used to get God off the hook for such things as war. Then it's explained as an outbreak of the ungodly following their own path. OK it's bit simplistic, but that's my take on free-will.