A Florida plastic surgeon was discovered responsible of murdering a lawyer whose physique was by no means discovered.
Tomasz Kosowski was charged with first-degree homicide within the loss of life of 41-year-old Steven Cozzi, who disappeared in March 2023.
Prosecutors mentioned Kosowski had a “malicious and private obsession” with Cozzi, who was representing defendants sued by Kosowski when he went lacking from his regulation agency, and “methodically and systematically” deliberate the homicide.
Dr. Tomasz Kosowski delivers his closing argument in his homicide trial in Clearwater, Florida, Sept. 23, 2026.
Pool through ABC Information
Decide Joseph Bulone discovered Kosowski responsible following closing arguments Wednesday. Kosowski, who represented himself within the case, had waived his proper to a jury trial.
Kosowski additionally waived his proper to counsel and a jury for the penalty section. He faces a sentence of life with out the potential for parole or the loss of life penalty.
The penalty section of the trial started Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors arguing in favor of three aggravating components they alleged whereas searching for the loss of life penalty — that the homicide was carried out for monetary acquire, that it was dedicated in a “chilly, calculated and premeditated method with none pretense of ethical or authorized justification,” and that it was “particularly heinous, atrocious and merciless.”
Bulone discovered that the state proved the primary two components past an inexpensive doubt, however not the third because of the lack of proof. The state solely needed to show one aggravating issue to make Cozzi eligible for the loss of life penalty.
Bulone scheduled a listening to on Oct. 8, throughout which remaining arguments are anticipated to be offered forward of the sentence.
The decide additionally heard sufferer impression statements Wednesday from Cozzi’s family and friends, together with his dad and mom and husband, who spoke to the ache of not having the ability to lay him to relaxation.
“Probably the most insufferable half is that we had been by no means capable of convey Steven house,” his husband, Michael Montgomery, informed the courtroom. “I can’t describe the horrors this has introduced me, and all of Steven’s family members. It brings me extra anger than I can put in phrases.”
Montgomery mentioned his husband is “not outlined by the best way his life ended.”
“He’s outlined by the life he really lived, by the household who cherished him, by his work, by the books he learn, by the miles he ran, by the meals he cooked, by the ridiculous films, by our journeys to the mountains, by his ardour for the regulation, by his gentleness, by his energy, by the many individuals who cherished him,” he mentioned.
Cozzi’s father, George Cozzi, remembered his son because the “warmest, kindest, friendliest, most real human being you may ever hope to satisfy.”
His mom, Lois Cozzi, mentioned their grief has been “indescribable.”
“Steven was our son, our brother, a husband, a pal. He was an excellent thoughts, a compassionate coronary heart, and a supply of pleasure,” she informed the courtroom. “His life was stolen. His future was stolen, and our future with him was stolen. Nothing can restore what was taken from us.”
Kosowski didn’t name any witnesses or testify in his personal protection in the course of the seven-day trial. He additionally didn’t current something in the course of the penalty section on Wednesday.
Prosecutors argued that despite the fact that Cozzi’s physique was by no means discovered, the proof confirmed that he’s lifeless, and that Kosowski murdered him.
“The underside line is the overwhelming totality of the proof on this case demonstrates that he had the obsession, and he ready, and he had a plan, and he effectuated that plan, and murdered him on March 21, 2023,” Assistant State Lawyer Nathan Vonderheide mentioned throughout his closing argument on Wednesday.
That proof, Vonderheide mentioned, included Cozzi’s blood present in his regulation workplace’s rest room, the place he mentioned a “violent occasion” occurred, and in Kosowski’s truck. He mentioned Kosowski was seen on surveillance video coming into the workplace with a Gorilla cart field on the day Cozzi went lacking, after which leaving hours later with a “very heavy” wagon.
Prosecutors alleged that Kosowski then disposed of Cozzi’s physique in a dumpster, which went a landfill.
“This man murdered Steven Cozzi, and he murdered him in a violent method, leaving his blood in a large number of places,” Vonderheide mentioned.
Assistant State Lawyer Nathan Vonderheide delivers his closing argument within the homicide trial of Dr. Tomasz Kosowski in Clearwater, Florida, Sept. 23, 2026.
Pool through ABC Information
Throughout his closing, Kosowski argued that it was “unattainable” for him to have dedicated the crime as alleged by the state and questioned whether or not Cozzi died on March 21, 2023, saying there have been a number of transactions on his bank card within the weeks following that date.
“Cheap doubt exists in droves on this case,” he mentioned.
Kosowski mentioned that it was “bodily unattainable” for him to have lifted the cart containing Cozzi’s roughly 190-pound physique to the mattress of his truck, as recommended by the state. Throughout cross-examination on Tuesday, Kosowski requested a detective to raise a cart with an individual onto a desk in an try to disprove the state’s concept, which the decide didn’t enable.
