Trial begins for plastic surgeon charged with murdering Pinellas County attorney
Former surgeon represents himself in murder trial
A former plastic surgeon charged with murdering a Largo attorney just wrapped his first day of representing himself in court. It's been three and a half years since attorney Steven Cozzi went missing from his law firm. Dr. Tomasz Kosowski is accused of killing him in the law office's bathroom. FOX 13's Kailey Tracy reports.
LARGO, Fla. - The trial for a plastic surgeon who's accused of murdering a Pinellas County attorney started on Monday.
Tomasz Kosowski waived his right to a jury trial, so he will have a bench trial where the judge decides his fate.
He also decided to represent himself in the trial.
Tomasz Kosowski Pinellas murder trial
What we know:
Former plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski is charged with first-degree murder in the 2023 death of Pinellas County attorney Steven Cozzi.
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Kosowski went through several defense attorneys over the last three and a half years. According to court records, he parted ways with his most recent attorney a few months ago.If convicted, Kosowski could face the death penalty.
Steven Cozzi law firm disappearance
The backstory:
In March 2023, Cozzi went to the bathroom in the Blanchard Law office he worked at and never returned.
His co-workers testified Monday that he left his phone, keys and wallet at his desk and appeared to be in the middle of an email.
Pictured: Steven Cozzi
According to court records, at the time, Kosowski was suing his former employer and Cozzi was representing some of the defendants.
Previous civil case and motive
Dig deeper:
Jake Blanchard, Cozzi’s boss and friend, testified Monday that the contentious civil case stemmed from a bad online review Kosowski had received.
Kosowski had done work as a plastic surgeon that a woman wasn’t happy with, Blanchard said, and there was a medical billing dispute over it.
Witnesses, including Blanchard and another attorney on the civil case, Jake Pillsbury, detailed a January 2023 deposition at the law office.
They said Kosowski confronted Cozzi in the bathroom and called him a scumbag, telling him he’d win in the end.
"I was furious," Blanchard said, testifying that he nearly kicked open the conference room door where the deposition was happening. "I was going to grab him by the neck and throw him out of the office."
He said Cozzi told him to "stop," saying, "I got this."
Husband testifies
What they're saying:
Cozzi's husband, Michael Montgomery, was the first of 12 witnesses called Monday.
He also testified that Cozzi had texted him during that deposition saying Kosowski had called him a scumbag.
Montgomery said this felt more personal than the other cases Cozzi had worked.
He got Cozzi pepper spray, and suggested he get onsite security at the law firm if they had to meet with Kosowski again.
When asked if they got security, Montgomery said they did not.
Evidence released in case
Big picture view:
On March 21, 2023, the day Cozzi disappeared, surveillance video shows someone walking into the building carrying a large box just after 8:30 a.m., prosecutors said Monday.
Around 10:22 a.m., surveillance video shows someone who appears to be Kosowski, prosecutors said, wheeling out a heavy wagon and struggling to pull it onto a truck, prosecutors said. That truck then returns to Kosowski’s Tarpon Springs home Flock cameras and neighbors’ surveillance cameras show.
Before it leaves the law firm’s lot, though, Kosowski calls in to a telephonic hearing for the civil case. His cell phone connects to a cell tower next to the law firm, prosecutors told the court. Cozzi didn’t call into the meeting.
Police also found large amounts of Cozzi’s blood in the bathroom of the office building and inside the truck and Kosowski’s garage. Kosowski’s blood was also in the bathroom, investigators say. Kosowski’s phone pinged at the law office when Cozzi disappeared, then at a dumpster in Collier County.
Detectives believe Kosowski drove south to dispose of Cozzi’s body, but prosecutors say he passed by the law firm on the way out of town. By the time investigators tracked the landfill where the dumpster in Collier County was dumped, it was about a week later. They searched the landfill for three long, hot days, prosecutors said, but didn’t find Cozzi’s body.
Other statements in court
Local perspective:
Prosecutors Monday called Kosowski cold and calculated, detailing the weeks leading up to Cozzi’s disappearance.
They said Kosowski visited his home and took pictures of Cozzi’s husband’s car, filmed the outside of the law firm, Googled Cozzi, researched a paralyzing agent and was found hiding in the complex’s electrical closet a week before Cozzi’s disappearance.
Employees from another business in the complex, who testified Monday, called police.
The employees testified that they found a torch lighter and box with a wagon inside the closet that prosecutors say matched the one the person on surveillance video is seen pulling out of the firm on the day Cozzi disappeared.
When officers arrested Kosowski a few days after Cozzi’s disappearance, they found $280,000 in cash, a ballistic vest with Cozzi’s blood on it, two passports, brass knuckles, a syringe, a paralyzing agent and more in the car.
When he was arrested, prosecutors said he had injuries consistent with a struggle.
Verdict and sentencing timeline
What's next:
Kosowski has pleaded not guilty.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
Since Kosowski waived the jury trial for the guilt and penalty phases, the judge will decide a verdict and Kosowski's sentence if he's convicted.
Court resumes at 9:15 a.m. Tuesday.
The Source: The information in this story was gathered from information provided by investigators in the case, previous FOX 13 News reporting, legal proceedings involving Tomasz Kosowski and Pinellas County court records.