Coday had been convicted and condemned to death in 2002, but the Florida Supreme Court overturned the sentence in October, faulting Circuit Court Judge Alfred Horowitz for rejecting testimony from six psychiatric experts who said Coday’s psychosis was triggered by rejection, the Associated Press reported May 25.
After reconsidering the expert testimony, Horowitz found it was outweighed by the crime’s cruel nature. Coday confessed to killing Gloria Gomez, whom he met while working in the library’s foreign-language section, in a “demonic rage.” She was struck 57 times with a hammer and suffered 87 stab wounds.
Posted on May 25, 2007.