A Florida judge has found a plastic surgeon guilty of killing an attorney hed 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 Kosowskis 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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Cozzis husband testified that hed been alarmed by the interactions. Hed 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 didnt show up at all.
His colleagues didnt understand why.
Then they found a bathroom in the building spattered with blood. Investigators later found that the blood was Cozzis.
But Cozzi had vanished.
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 Kosowskis 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 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 Cozzis location and combed through trash for days, searchers couldnt recover a body.
Police arrested Kosowski in March 2023, and
