Florida plastic surgeon found guilty of murdering attorney who vanished from bloody office
A Florida judge has found a plastic surgeon guilty of killing an attorney he’d faced in a dispute over payments for medical procedures.
The body of Steven Cozzi was never found. But prosecutors presented six days of testimony with dozens of witnesses that painted gruesome images of violent revenge.
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski, 47, represented himself in the case. He waived his right to a jury trial and, instead, put his fate in the hands of Judge Joseph Bulone.
FLORIDA PLASTIC SURGEON ACCUSED OF KILLING ATTORNEY IN HIS OFFICE DEFENDS HIMSELF IN MURDER TRIAL
The trial began on Sept. 14, more than three years since Cozzi disappeared. On Wednesday, Bulone found Kosowski guilty of killing of Cozzi.
Kosowski, clad in an orange jail jumpsuit, showed almost no reaction.
He now faces the possibility of life in prison without the chance of parole or the death penalty.
On Wednesday, Bulone reminded Kosowski there were "disadvantages" in representing himself in court. He asked if Kosowski would like an attorney for the penalty phase of the trial.
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"Question No. 1: You still want to represent yourself?" Bulone questioned.
Kosowski answered without delay, "Yes, your honor."
"Question No. 2: Do you still want to go non-jury?" Bulone asked.
"Yes, your honor," Kosowski said.
It was not immediately clear when Bulone would hand down Kosowski’s sentence.
Before resting their case, prosecutors said evidence showed that Kosowski had become obsessed with Cozzi. Angry about a yearslong lawsuit, the doctor had threatened Cozzi in a restroom and stalked him outside his home, prosecutors said.
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Cozzi’s husband testified that he’d been alarmed by the interactions. He’d suggested arranging for security if the two were to meet in person again.
In March 2023, Cozzi and Kosowski arranged to meet in a teleconference. A little before the scheduled meeting, Kosowski secretly slipped into the law firm, attacked Cozzi in a restroom and hauled him outside unnoticed in a wagon covered with a blanket, prosecutors said.
Kosowski showed up late for the meeting. Cozzi didn’t show up at all.
His colleagues didn’t understand why.
Then they found a bathroom in the building spattered with blood. Investigators later found that the blood was Cozzi’s.
But Cozzi had vanished.
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Surveillance video, pieced together later using Flock cameras, showed a man pulling a wagon from the law firm, struggling to load its contents into the bed, and traveling to Kosowski’s multimillion-dollar, Tarpon Springs home.
There, prosecutors said, Kosowski transferred Cozzi to another vehicle and headed south toward the Everglades. DNA evidence found later in the garage was a match for Cozzi.
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Kosowski eventually made a stop in a remote area of Florida at a dumpster, pings from his cellphone showed. There, he hoisted Cozzi into the trash container and left, prosecutors and witnesses said.
The contents were hauled to a local landfill and soon were buried under thousands of tons of garbage. Though they felt certain of Cozzi’s location and combed through trash for days, searchers couldn’t recover a body.
Police arrested Kosowski in March 2023, and he’s been held in jail ever since.
Throughout the trial, Kosowski sat quietly, watching witnesses and prosecutors with a bland expression. Rarely, he cross-examined witnesses.
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He called into question evidence related to DNA evidence, cellphone pings and whether he’d really had the time and physical strength to complete the crime in the way prosecutors had testified.
The trial wrapped up for the week on Friday and resumed Tuesday.
In his closing arguments Wednesday, Kosowski spoke calmly and confidently.
"Not only is it impossible, physically, to do what the state asserts is required of anybody— let alone me — it makes no sense in time," Kosowski told the judge.
He gave reasons why he said he was innocent. Then, the judge paused the proceedings.
When the trial reconvened less than 30 minutes later, a statement was read aloud declaring that Bulone had found Kosowski guilty of first-degree murder.
Fox News Digital was not able to reach Kosowski for comment.
The trial will now move to the penalty phase, where the only two options are life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty. A Spencer hearing has been scheduled for Oct. 8, which allows a defendant to present more evidence or mitigating factors to consider before sentencing.