PINELLAS COUNTY, Fla. \u2014 A Pinellas County judge found plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski guilty of murder in the 2023 killing of attorney Stephen Cozzi, who prosecutors said was attacked at a law office and later taken from the building.<\/p>\n
Kosowski represented himself during the trial and told the judge he plans to do the same during the death penalty phase.<\/p>\n
Prosecutors said during closing arguments that Kosowski stalked and murdered Cozzi after becoming angry with him. Cozzi was an attorney representing a medical practice that Kosowski was suing. Kosowski also represented himself in that civil case.<\/p>\n
Investigators said Kosowski stalked Cozzi for months at his home and at the law firm where Cozzi worked. They said Kosowski killed Cozzi in a bathroom at the law office, then wheeled his body out in a cart.<\/p>\n
According to investigators, Kosowski took Cozzi back to his home for several hours before driving south toward the Everglades and disposing his body in a dumpster. Investigators later searched a Collier County landfill, but did not find Cozzi\u2019s remains.<\/p>\n
Investigators said the amount of blood found at Kosowski\u2019s home showed Cozzi did not survive the attack.<\/p>\n
Kosowski denied killing Cozzi during his closing argument. He argued that the timeline presented by prosecutors was impossible and said it did not make sense that no one heard anything in the bathroom of a busy law office at the time prosecutors said Cozzi was killed.<\/p>\n
Kosowski also disputed prosecutors\u2019 account of when Cozzi died, pointing to charges made on Cozzi\u2019s credit card after investigators said he was killed.<\/p>\n
The judge ultimately found Kosowski guilty. Kosowski later apologized to Cozzi\u2019s family.<\/p>\n