Florida plastic surgeon found guilty of murdering missing lawyer
A Florida plastic surgeon was found guilty of murdering a lawyer whose body was never found.
Tomasz Kosowski was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 41-year-old Steven Cozzi, who disappeared in March 2023.
Prosecutors said Kosowski had a "malicious and personal obsession" with Cozzi, who was representing defendants sued by Kosowski when he went missing from his law firm, and "methodically and systematically" planned the murder.
Judge Joseph Bulone found Kosowski guilty following closing arguments Wednesday. Kosowski, who represented himself in the case, had waived his right to a jury trial.
Kosowski also waived his right to counsel and a jury for the penalty phase. He faces a sentence of life without the possibility of parole or the death penalty.
The penalty phase of the trial began Wednesday afternoon, with prosecutors arguing in favor of three aggravating factors they alleged while seeking the death penalty -- that the murder was done for financial gain, that it was committed in a "cold, calculated and premeditated manner without any pretense of moral or legal justification," and that it was "especially heinous, atrocious and cruel."
Bulone found that the state proved the first two factors beyond a reasonable doubt, but not the third due to the lack of evidence. The state only had to prove one aggravating factor to make Cozzi eligible for the death penalty.
Bulone scheduled a hearing on Oct. 8, during which final arguments are expected to be presented ahead of the sentence.
The judge also heard victim impact statements Wednesday from Cozzi's friends and family, including his parents and husband, who spoke to the pain of not being able to lay him to rest.
"The most unbearable part is that we were never able to bring Steven home," his husband, Michael Montgomery, told the court. "I cannot describe the horrors this has brought me, and all of Steven's loved ones. It brings me more anger than I can put in words."
Montgomery said his husband is "not defined by the way his life ended."
"He is defined by the life he actually lived, by the family who loved him, by his work, by the books he read, by the miles he ran, by the meals he cooked, by the ridiculous movies, by our trips to the mountains, by his passion for the law, by his gentleness, by his strength, by the many people who loved him," he said.
Cozzi's father, George Cozzi, remembered his son as the "warmest, kindest, friendliest, most genuine human being you could ever hope to meet."
His mother, Lois Cozzi, said their grief has been "indescribable."
"Steven was our son, our brother, a husband, a friend. He was a brilliant mind, a compassionate heart, and a source of joy," she told the court. "His life was stolen. His future was stolen, and our future with him was stolen. Nothing can restore what was taken from us."
Kosowski did not call any witnesses or testify in his own defense during the seven-day trial. He also did not present anything during the penalty phase on Wednesday.
Prosecutors argued that even though Cozzi's body was never found, the evidence showed that he is dead, and that Kosowski murdered him.
"The bottom line is the overwhelming totality of the evidence in this case demonstrates that he had the obsession, and he prepared, and he had a plan, and he effectuated that plan, and murdered him on March 21, 2023," Assistant State Attorney Nathan Vonderheide said during his closing argument on Wednesday.
That evidence, Vonderheide said, included Cozzi's blood found in his law office's bathroom, where he said a "violent event" occurred, and in Kosowski's truck. He said Kosowski was seen on surveillance video entering the office with a Gorilla cart box on the day Cozzi went missing, and then leaving hours later with a "very heavy" wagon.
Prosecutors alleged that Kosowski then disposed of Cozzi's body in a dumpster, which went a landfill.
"This man murdered Steven Cozzi, and he murdered him in a violent way, leaving his blood in a multitude of locations," Vonderheide said.
During his closing, Kosowski argued that it was "impossible" for him to have committed the crime as alleged by the state and questioned whether Cozzi died on March 21, 2023, saying there were several transactions on his credit card in the weeks following that date.
"Reasonable doubt exists in droves in this case," he said.
Kosowski said that it was "physically impossible" for him to have lifted the cart containing Cozzi's approximately 190-pound body to the bed of his truck, as suggested by the state. During cross-examination on Tuesday, Kosowski asked a detective to lift a cart with a person onto a desk in an attempt to disprove the state's theory, which the judge did not allow.
