FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A former Broward County librarian condemned for fatally beating his girlfriend with a hammer has been found dead in his cell on Florida's death row.

William Coday, 51, bled to death at the Union Correctional Institution in Raiford early Monday from what are being called self-inflicted wounds, one of his attorneys, George Reres, told the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.

An autopsy was performed at the medical examiner's office in Gainesville, but a final report was not expected to be released for several months.

Coday had a history of suicidal behavior. He tried to kill himself while awaiting trial in 2000 at the Broward County Jail.

"He did have a death wish," Reres said.

Reres did not immediately return an e-mail or a telephone message left at his office early Tuesday.

The Florida Department of Corrections is investigating, but cannot disclose how Coday died, spokeswoman Jo Ellyn Rackleff told the newspaper.

Coday confessed to planning for a month to kill Gloria Gomez in 1997. She was struck 57 times with a hammer and suffered 87 stab wounds.

A jury convicted Coday of first-degree murder in 2002 and recommended a death sentence. The Florida Supreme Court overturned the death sentence in 2006, ruling that the judge shouldn't have disregarded testimony and evidence from six mental health experts who found Coday to be suffering from serious mental illnesses. The case went back to the same judge, who again in May 2007 sentenced Coday to die.

In 1978, Coday was convicted in Germany of fatally beating another woman with a hammer. He served 15 months in prison, less than half of a three-year sentence, and was sent back to the U.S. to get psychiatric help.