Plastic surgeon who insisted on repping himself found guilty of murdering attorney now faces death penalty

An Ivy League-educated surgeon who insisted on repping himself at his first-degree murder trial over the killing of an attorney has been found guilty — and now faces the death penalty.Tomasz Kosowski, 47, was convicted Wednesday for killing lawyer Steven Cozzi, 41, in the bathroom of his Clearwater, Florida, office, and disposing his body in a dumpster near a highway in March 2023.Prosecutors argued Kosowski, who was known as “Dr.K,” had acted in a “cold, calculated and premeditated” manner and he was found guilty just 15 minutes after Pinellas County Judge Joseph Bulone retreated to mull over the arguments, rather than a jury, following his near-week-long trial.“I don’t anticipate me disagreeing with myself that much,” the judge quipped before retreating.

“So we’ll take a 15-minute break and I’ll be back.”Kosowski and Cozzi were locked in a legal dispute over medical billing and prosecutors claimed the shamed plastic surgeon murdered the attorney for “financial gain.”Kosowski, a graduate of the prestigious Dartmouth College, had called the lawyer a “scumbag” just months before the killing.Prosecutors also pointed how Kosowski researched his victim online and kept a so-called “murder bag” containing a Taser, brass knuckles and a crowbar.He also looked up the paralyzing drug succinylcholine, asking questions such as how long it lasted.Cozzi’s blood was not just found in the bathroom — spatters were also discovered in the killer’s car used afterward.“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,” Nathan Vonderheide, the Assistant State Attorney, said, advocating for the death penalty.“This man murdered Steven Cozzi and he murdered him in a violent way, leaving his blood in a multitude of locations.”But Cozzi’s body has not been found and Bulone said it cannot be proven the killing was ...