Back in April, Cadavid assigned the dusty Townsend files to Detective Confesor Gonzalez. He said he listened to the taped confession, examined crime-scene pictures and studied other reports. His conclusion: ``The confessions do not fit the physical evidence,'' he said. ``This case was bad.''

The two detectives who originally investigated the case -- Bruce Roberson and James E. Boone -- were retired. Gonzalez said he did not have telephone numbers for them but asked friends to contact them. Gonzalez said Roberson and Boone never called him.

On May 27, The Herald published a front-page story in which Gonzalez, Cadavid and Moss publicly questioned how the investigation had been handled. Moss took it a step further: ``I just don't think he did those murders.''

The next morning, Miami-Dade prosecutor David I. Gilbert, the interim head of the Major Crimes section, called Cadavid to chastise him for his strong public comments.

``A spanking,'' one detective familiar with the call said. ``He broke the code.''

Gilbert acknowledged the call but declined to comment.

The fifth-floor homicide office quickly became an uncomfortable place for Gonzalez and Cadavid, who declined to discuss the situation publicly. Roberson still had friends in the homicide unit, and they made their displeasure known.

Moss got it, too.

``I was told to `tone down' my opinions,'' said Moss, declining to name the source.

Miami Assistant Police Chief James Chambliss agreed there was tension.

``It's a difficult situation that you are put in when you are asked to second-guess someone else's investigation,'' said Chambliss, who said he fully supported the review.

Rundle, meanwhile, already had assigned prosecutors Waksman and Gilbert to review the case.

Waksman's involvement raised eyebrows. He worked the original case, is a former cop and is a good friend of Roberson.

Waksman said he offered to remove himself from the Townsend case after his colleague Reid Rubin -- also a friend of Roberson -- declined to review the file.

``I threw it on the table,'' Waksman said.

Rundle said she had no problem with Waksman's helping.

``It would be irresponsible not to have him be part of the team,'' Rundle said.

Barbara Heyer, one of Townsend's lawyers, said Waksman should have recused himself.

``Waksman had no business being on this case,'' Heyer said. ``He had a clear conflict of interest.''

But while Miami detectives said they could not reach Roberson and Boone, the retired detectives were talking with Waksman, even meeting with him the last week in May.

``We were kept in the dark about their discussions until the last minute,'' said one homicide investigator.

Waksman called Gonzalez and invited him to meet with Boone and Roberson to discuss the case, but Gonzalez refused to go to the state attorney's office.

``An ambush,'' he called it.

Between visits with Waksman, Boone and Roberson came to the police station for breakfast in the third-floor cafeteria. Roberson then walked upstairs to his former office and made his feelings known.

``Bruce was upset that Cadavid and Confesor made their comments without having a full review of the facts,'' said Ron Ilhardt, a retired Miami homicide detective and friend of both Boone and Roberson.

Cadavid said Roberson did all the talking and then left -- without leaving copies of any notes that could help police.

Ilhardt said he recently weighed in, too.

``Last week I pinned George [Cadavid] against the wall and told him his opinion was not based on a complete and thorough investigation,'' Ilhardt said. ``He was in a fight for his life and he was not going to concede.''

But the case against Townsend was beginning to collapse.

About a week ago, Miami-Dade prosecutor Penny Brill -- a legal expert -- told Rundle that the law was on Townsend's side. The reason:

Townsend pleaded guilty in 1982 after Miami-Dade prosecutors announced they planned to use the Broward convictions against him if he went to trial. Townsend faced the electric chair.

After Broward prosecutors cleared Townsend of the four murders there, Townsend's motivations for taking the Miami-Dade plea became legally questionable.

Rundle also listened to the confession tapes in her car, at home and in the office and concluded Townsend did not understand his Miranda Rights against self-incrimination.

Then on June 8, Broward Sheriff Ken Jenne delivered a face-to-face apology to Townsend and called for new rules to guard against future false confessions by other mentally challenged suspects.

Rundle acknowledged those events were not lost on her.

``Obviously it weighed on me heavily,'' Rundle said. ``We had to balance the moral and ethical responsibility of abiding by the law. We were weighing the rights of the accused against the issue of public safety.''

Two Miami-Dade prosecutors involved in the review, including Waksman, believed Broward prosecutors had given up too early on the Townsend cases.

``One of four cases set aside in Broward had no DNA,'' Waksman said he wrote in an e-mail. ``I had several conversations with [Broward prosecutor] Chuck Morton and they just wanted out of these cases.''

Morton said Broward's decision was strictly a legal one.

This past Monday, Townsend's lawyers -- Heyer and Miami-Dade Assistant Public Defender Herb Smith -- met with prosecutors Gilbert, Brill and Waksman in conference room 410 South.

``You have no physical evidence,'' Heyer said. ``Do you believe the cops?''

``Yes I do,'' Gilbert said.

``I don't,'' Heyer said.

``You don't have anything,'' she said.

Smith said prosecutors wanted him and Heyer to ask the parole board to release Townsend. Townsend's lawyers wanted Rundle to drop the charges and exonerate Townsend.

``I will never say he is innocent,'' Waksman said. ``And I'll never apologize or give him a kiss if he gets out of prison.''

While this was happening, Rundle said she had her top street investigators searching for the rape victim and witnesses, desperately hoping they could revive the rape case if they had to retry it. No one found the victim.

On Wednesday, Miami investigators Cadavid and Gonzalez told Waksman and Gilbert to their faces that they had the wrong guy.

Rundle agreed to end the investigation.

She and her senior staff drafted a carefully worded press release: She would ask the court to vacate the convictions but she would not use the word ``exonerate.''

``It was deliberately written that way,'' Rundle said.

``We deliberately did not say he was innocent.''