Most inmates on Florida's Death Row -- after years of contemplating their fate -- find many reasons for proclaiming their innocence. Most such claims prove baseless -- but not all are fictional concoctions. Witnesses sometimes lie, police ignore favorable evidence, lawyers may be incompetent.

James Duckett, 45, says he is among the exceptional Death Row inmates whose claim of innocence is valid. He may be right. His lawyer has appealed to the Florida Supreme Court for a new trial. The high court should give this case the careful, serious scrutiny that, thus far, has been missing. Lower courts have perfunctorily upheld the murder conviction. In one instance a court argued that ``with the benefit of time and a made record, claims can be generated years after the fact.''

An exhaustive review of the case by former Miami-Dade County detective Marshall Frank, however, buttresses Duckett's claim of innocence. An account of Mr. Frank's work was outlined in a two-part Herald series published on Sunday and Monday.

The retired detective's 16-year investigation uncovered much suggesting that Duckett may have been wrongly convicted. That includes a key witness who recanted her testimony, damning evidence that would be inadmissible under today's rules and botched handling of evidence. Worse yet, Detective Frank found that Duckett's lawyer did little to prepare for trial and defend his client.

Unfortunately for Duckett and other inmates, once a trial ends in conviction, the goal of police and prosecutors isn't to correct errors or to right a miscarriage of justice. In fact, they work overtime to defend their actions.

Duckett was a rookie cop in the small north Florida town of Mascotte when he was accused of raping and murdering an 11-year-old schoolgirl in 1987. The case was prosecuted in nearby Lake County after investigators quickly settled on Duckett as the primary suspect and allowed no other evidence to dissuade them. Detective Frank's investigation offers credible proof that police and prosecutors may have misinterpreted fingerprint evidence, botched identifications of a tire cast and pubic hair and failed to introduce evidence that pointed to Duckett's innocence.

Gov. Jeb Bush has encouraged the courts to speed up the review process in murder cases. He argues that such delays harm victims who need closure. But in this case, if the state has made an error, Duckett will suffer a worse fate -- he'll pay with his life. That is reason enough for the high court, finally, to closely scrutinize this case and make sure that an innocent man isn't executed.