US3 min(s) read
Plastic surgeon Dr. Tomasz Kosowski has made a bizarre request during his murder trial in Florida, where he faces the death penalty.
The medical professional has been in court this week for the killing of Largo attorney Steven Cozzi, with closing arguments expected to start at 9AM on Thursday (September 24).
Kosowski has been accused of murdering the Blanchard Law attorney in the law firm's bathroom in March 2023.
But in the lead-up to the trial's closing arguments, the doctor made a bizarre request to the judge to plead his case and fight the death penalty.
The plastic surgeon asked a lead detective and a prosecutor to perform physical courtroom demonstrations on Tuesday in an attempt to challenge murder theories.
Kosowski asked the medical examiner to get into a cart similar to the one that the prosecutors suggested was used by the defendant to move Cozzi's body.
He also asked one of the prosecutors to lift it onto the table.
The plastic surgeon waived his right to a jury trial, meaning that it's up to Judge Joseph Bulone to decide on a verdict in a bench trial.
Kosowski has also chosen to represent himself against charges of first-degree murder.
In court yesterday, he asked Largo Police Department Detective Colin Bolton to lift a cart onto a desk with a 195-pound volunteer inside.
His argument was that prosecutors needed to prove that it was physically impossible to load that amount of weight into the back of a truck, as they had suggested.
The Judge denied this request, explaining that the court wouldn't hold that type of demonstration.
Later, Kosowski asked the Judge if Assistant State Attorney Nathan Vonderheide could place District Six Medical Examiner Dr. Jon R. Thogmartin in the cart, before lifting him onto a table.
The latter claimed that they had tested the scenario to see if it was physically possible, but this was once again shut down by Bulone.
Kosowski also asked Thogmartin if he would get into a trash bag that was recovered from his car, but the medical examiner declined while acknowledging that a person could fit inside.
The attorney vanished from Blanchard Law office on March 21, 2023, with his phone, keys, and wallet found at his desk.
He was locked in a civil lawsuit with his ex-employer, with Cozzi representing several of the defendants.
CCTV footage showed someone wheeling out a heavy wagon to a Toyota Tundra truck, which was tracked to Kosowski's Tarpon Springs home.
In addition, detectives found Cozzi's blood in the firm's bathroom, in the truck, in the car Kosowski drove when apprehended, and on the defendant's garage floor.
Kosowski's phone pinged at the law office during the disappearance, and then again near a dumpster off the Tamiami Trail, according to phone records.
The dumpster in question was picked up by a garbage truck on March 23, 2023, before transporting the contents to the Collier County landfill.
Despite this information, investigators have yet to find Cozzi's body following searches for the dumpster and searching among the landfill for several days.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty ahead of tomorrow's closing arguments, with Judge Bulone set to issue the verdict.
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