FL v. Tomasz Kosowski

Tomasz Kosowski is a plastic surgeon on trial for his life in Pinellas County, Florida, charged with first-degree murder in the death of attorney Steven Cozzi. He has pleaded not guilty. He is presumed innocent. The burden rests entirely with the State of Florida, and it never shifts.

Steven Cozzi was the lawyer representing the corporate clients and medical institute Kosowski had sued for money, and Cozzi vanished in March 2023, weeks before Kosowski was set to lose that case. He has not been seen since. No body has ever been recovered, which means the state has to prove a killing happened at all, with no crime scene and no remains, before it can prove who did it. Kosowski has been in the Pinellas County Jail since his arrest that same month.

What makes this trial unlike almost any other on this channel is not just the missing body. Kosowski fired four separate defense teams, one after another, and chose to represent himself, with two of those former attorneys staying on only as standby counsel if he wants them. Then he waived his right to a jury, for both the guilt phase and, if it comes to that, the penalty phase. There will be no jury box in this courtroom. Judge Joseph Bulone alone will decide whether the state has proven a murder with no body, and if it has, whether Kosowski lives or dies.

We are not here to convict him and we are not here to acquit him. We are here to watch whether the state can carry a burden this heavy, in front of one judge instead of twelve jurors, against a defendant with no lawyer standing between him and the death penalty. Start with the background report below, then follow every day of trial with us.