Four masks. A paralytic and needles. A crowbar. Brass knuckles. Duct tape.
On Wednesday, prosecutors presented item after item that they say Tomasz Kosowski used to prepare for the murder of Largo attorney Steven Cozzi.
Though Cozzi’s body was never found, the state put a number of forensics experts on the stand to continue building their case that the former plastic surgeon meticulously planned the attorney’s murder for months.
Kosowski, an Ivy League-educated doctor who faced Cozzi in a medical billing lawsuit, is representing himself in the bench trial. Judge Joseph Bulone will decide whether he is guilty of first-degree murder and, if so, whether he should be sentenced to death.
Kosowski, 47, did not make an opening statement and has not cross-examined any of the state’s witnesses. He has, however, repeatedly objected to most of the testimony, asserting that the search of his home and car was unlawful.
Bulone denied the doctor’s motion to suppress the evidence before trial and has overruled all his objections.
Family and friends of Cozzi, 41, testified Monday that he had grown stressed while representing defendants in a medical billing lawsuit Kosowski filed against a plastic surgery center where he worked.
Kosowski — representing himself in that matter, too — sought to have Cozzi removed from the case, and multiple people testified that he had called the lawyer a “scumbag.” A week before Cozzi disappeared, Kosowski infiltrated the law firm where he worked, hiding in an electrical closet and leaving a cardboard box with a collapsible wagon inside, witnesses said Tuesday.
Cozzi vanished on March 21, 2023. Five days later, Kosowski was arrested after a combination of surveillance footage, license plate snapshots and phone records pointed to his involvement.
Arguably the most significant evidence presented Wednesday was what prosecutors dubbed the “murder kit.”
Investigators searched Kosowski’s red Toyota Corolla after his arrest and found a black bag on the floor of the passenger seat. Assistant State Attorney Nathan Vonderheide had a forensics specialist take the items out of evidence bags before holding them up for the judge to see.
First came two masks — one of which was a white Guy Fawkes mask with a thin mustache and goatee, like the one featured in the English “V for Vendetta” graphic novel and movie.
Then came a paralytic and needles. A black baseball hat, two ski masks and a pair of binoculars. A crowbar, brass knuckles, a stun gun, scissors, a folding knife and a roll of duct tape. Also included were checkbooks, two passports, charging cords and a memory card.
One of the last items held up by Ashley Luth, an assistant forensic science supervisor at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, was a black trash bag.
Vonderheide asked her how much she thought the bag could hold.
Kosowski interrupted from the defense desk: “How tall are you, Mr. Vonderheide?”
Bulone said the prosecutor didn’t have to answer without a legal basis for the question.
“They’re obviously hinting that you could hide a body in there, right?” Kosowski asked Vonderheide. “So could you step into the trash bag for us?”
“Maybe we’ll do that later,” Vonderheide replied. Cozzi’s family stifled laughs from the gallery.
Earlier in the day, Vonderheide projected photos of the gray Toyota Tundra that Kosowski bought with $32,000 in cash a few months before the murder. It’s the same truck that was captured in surveillance footage outside the Blanchard Law firm the day Cozzi disappeared. In the video, a man hoists a heavy wagon covered with a red blanket into the bed of the truck.
Vonderheide displayed photos of the truck bed after investigators applied luminol, a chemical that emits a blue glow when mixed with blood. A thick blue glow was seen down the middle. There were also blue marks on the console between the front seats of the truck.
Sandra-Leigh Copeland, an assistant forensic science supervisor at the Pinellas County Sheriff’s Office, testified that she and her colleagues spent several hours processing the electrical room and men’s bathroom of the law firm.
Prosecutors asked her to look at photos of the bathroom, including an overflowing trash can. Copeland said investigators collected nearly 400 paper towels and napkins to be tested for blood.
Copeland also took photos of Kosowski at the Tarpon Springs Police Department after he was arrested on March 26, 2023. Prosecutors projected the photos and asked her to describe the bruises on his body.
The photos showed a purple and yellow bruise around his naval area and similar marks on his arms.
When investigators searched his Tarpon Springs home, they found brass knuckles and knives, along with 11 license plates from various states on a shelf in the garage.
By the end of the day, the prosecution’s desk was covered in brown evidence bags and yellow envelopes.
The trial is expected to last through early next week.
