A Florida judge has convicted a plastic surgeon of killing an attorney involved in a long-running dispute over payments for medical procedures.
Steven Cozzi’s body has never been found. Even so, prosecutors spent six days presenting testimony from dozens of witnesses, describing what they said was a brutal act of revenge.
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski, 47, acted as his own attorney during the trial. He waived his right to a jury and left the verdict to Judge Joseph Bulone.
Tomasz Kosowski represents himself during his murder trial. (FOX 13 Tampa)
The trial began Sept. 14, more than three years after Cozzi disappeared. On Wednesday, Bulone found Kosowski guilty of killing him.
Kosowski, wearing an orange jail uniform, displayed little reaction as the verdict was read.
He could now receive life in prison without parole or the death penalty.
On Wednesday, Bulone reminded Kosowski that representing himself carried “disadvantages.” The judge asked whether he wanted a lawyer to handle the penalty phase of the case.
“Question No. 1: You still want to represent yourself?” Bulone asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Kosowski replied without hesitation.
“Question No. 2: Do you still want to go non-jury?” Bulone asked.
“Yes, your honor,” Kosowski answered.
The court had not immediately announced when Bulone would impose Kosowski’s sentence.
The evidence
Before prosecutors rested their case, they argued that Kosowski had become fixated on Cozzi. Prosecutors said the doctor, enraged by a lawsuit that had continued for years, threatened Cozzi in a restroom and followed him outside his home.
Steven Cozzi vanished in Florida. Tomasz Kosowski was charged with his murder. (Largos Police Department)
Cozzi’s husband testified that the encounters had frightened him. He suggested arranging security if the two men ever had to meet face to face again.
In March 2023, Cozzi and Kosowski scheduled a teleconference. Prosecutors said Kosowski entered the law firm in secret shortly before the meeting, attacked Cozzi in a restroom and removed him from the building in a wagon hidden beneath a blanket.
Kosowski arrived late for the meeting. Cozzi never appeared.
His colleagues were initially unable to explain his absence.
They soon discovered that a bathroom in the building was covered in blood. Investigators later determined that the blood belonged to Cozzi.
But Cozzi had vanished.
Attorney Steven Cozzi was killed in his Florida law office, authorities say. (St. Petersburg Bar Association)
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.
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.
Tomasz Kosowski was accused of killing Steven Cozzi. (Pinellas County Sheriffs Office)
The doctor’s defense
Throughout the trial, Kosowski sat quietly, watching witnesses and prosecutors with a bland expression. Rarely, he cross-examined witnesses.
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.
News Outlet 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.
