FL v. Tomasz Koswoski Day 7 and Verdict

Nathan Vonderheide (00:00):

... administer it. There's no reason to get up at 3:00 in the morning on Monday, March 20th, 2023 and research duration of action of succinylcholine unless you're going to use it for bad intent the next day. There's no reason to read an academic journal article about the dangers of intramuscular succinylcholine injection. The dangers of... First of all, he's not going to be doing that in a surgery. And second of all, he's not doing it anytime that week until he gets back to the surgery center. There's zero reason for him to be doing it at 3:00 in the morning on that Monday morning before this hearing, unless the reasonable inference of the facts is he's going to use it the next day, the succinylcholine. That's why it's relevant from his tools or his things that are found on the passenger floorboard of his Toyota Corolla.

(00:50)
What's also relevant sort of in this time period? Well, Victor DePloy, who works at one of the surgery centers in Miami, asks him very simply, "Do you want to do an Instagram live tomorrow? You can do it from home." It ain't that hard. You set up your phone, maybe get a ring light if you're feeling that professional about it. Just sit on your porch, put on some scrubs, record a little thing. He says, "No, I'm too busy on Tuesday. I couldn't give you any time at all on March 21st to do this Instagram live video because I want to be busy all day." And he sure as hell was busy that day, the whole day, from 7:50 in the morning until about 11:00 at night when he got back to Miami.

(01:33)
So let's talk about March 21st of 2023. And Steven's day started as the evidence forensically from the financial analyst, from his husband and from his parents, from Jake Blanchard, started as it always does, a man of routine. He kissed his husband goodbye, made him a cup of coffee, put some chicken in the sink to thaw out and went about his day. He arrives to the office at 8:37. We know that he's identified. He's wearing his red sweater. He's walking in at 8:37. What is this man doing? Well, 7:51, he's leaving his house in this Toyota Tundra. Does it have the plate on it that he had at Mark Otto's house? No. It's got a New Jersey plate. We know this from the flock camera. We know this from surveillance. It's got some New Jersey plate on it that we never locate incidentally, but a New Jersey plate.

(02:28)
We know that he heads south because you have the surveillance video that corroborates that. He heads south past his neighbor's house at 504 Seaview Drive in the Toyota Tundra. And his phone, see this is where his digital footprint betrays him again. Because his phone is on because of his obsession with the civil case, he has to file another motion before he gets to his little conference call that he's going to have at March 21st, 2023 at 10:30 in the morning. He's got to file that motion and he does at 8:07 AM. We know this from his digital forensic history. Then at 8:08 AM he turns his phone off and he's not towards the Blanchard Law Firm yet. He's still got about 20 or 30 minutes to drive and he turns his phone off.

(03:15)
So now we have radio silence as it relates to timing advanced data, as it relates to his call detail records, as it relates to his location of his phone, and yes, as it relates to a Wi-Fi connection in the Blanchard Law Firm because his phone is off. None of those things are going to be functioning. It doesn't come back on until 10:28 in the morning. So where does he go from there? Well, we know that he goes to the Blanchard Law Firm because we see the Toyota Tundra pull in and park and back into the space. And we know that. I say we know that totality of the circumstances because we get to that eventually. We get to the phone records and we get to the flock and the surveillance videos, but the truck backs in, it's the same truck.

(03:55)
It's not like a magic paper towel like was suggested. It's not a magic truck. It doesn't just fall from the sky. He drove it in, he parked it. He's there at 8:34 in the morning or 8:32 in the morning. He walks in at 8:34 in the morning with a box on his shoulder. It's a gorilla car box. You can zoom into it. Can you see the writing? Can you see? No, but it's the same size and type and shape. It's a wagon on his shoulder. And I would submit to you after having seen the pictures of him when he's getting his body processing warrant, having seen the surveillance video of his contortionist act when he's destroying evidence under his fingernails, I would suggest to you that you could look at that surveillance video of him walking in and you see it in the shoulders. It's him. You can identify him from the video. I would submit to you.

(04:39)
You don't have to because all the other totality of the evidence is there, but I would suggest to you that it's a reasonable inference from just that fact, even though you can take the totality of the entirety of the case. Three minutes later, Steven walks in. Three minutes later, Steven walks in after he goes in there. And from 8:34 to 9:50, I can't tell you what he was doing in that law firm, but I can tell you he's hiding out in there somewhere. He's somewhere in that building, now we're in the hallways waiting from 8:34 in the morning until 9:50 in the morning when Steven leaves his office for the last time.

(05:20)
He's lurking somewhere in there because you don't see him leave on the surveillance. He does not leave on the surveillance. He's in there somewhere. Steven's in there too. Steven's in his office. We know what he did because Rebecca Waters told us that she saw him in the morning. They had made plans for lunch later that afternoon and he petted Molly, the sort of Blanchard Law dog that's there all the time, petted her for the last time and he's in his office. What are you getting ready for, Steven? I'm getting ready for a very unpleasant hearing with a very unpleasant opponent in court at 10:30 in the morning. And all the evidence shows that that's what he was doing because when we go in and forensically process this office, there's an email up that he hadn't finished sending. There's files all over the desk. His phone's out playing music. His keys in his wallet are right there on his desk.

(06:07)
And at 9:50 in the morning, we have the security documents from Iron Shield Security Firm. They're in evidence, couldn't tell you the number somewhere early on when Jake Blanchard testified, but it shows the door opening event at 9:50 in the morning last time Steven left his office because there's no entry in that from him. There's no entry from Steven Cozzi. Entry is Jake Blanchard's. 9:50 he leaves. Now from 9:50 to 10:22 in the morning, I can't stand to you and tell you precisely what this man did in that bathroom. I can't because he absented the body. I can't tell you. But what I can tell you is there was a violent event that occurred in that bathroom. Anna Cox testified to that. Dr. Jon Thogmartin testified to that. And I think in the sense that we can call it testimony, I think the DNA speaks to that. I think the forensic processing of the room speaks to that.

(07:06)
I think the sheer... Now I believe that he's going to get up and argue that I can't give you a volume of blood. I certainly can't give you a volume of blood. That's not how this works. This isn't medical school. This is the collection of evidence. Collecting a vial of blood would be a remarkable thing to have happen in a case. It would have to be set up almost perfectly to have somebody's blood withdrawn from them in a bag and then later preserved. That's not how crime scenes work. That's not how real life works. What real life works is there's a struggle and there's a violent act and it's what's called a dynamic event and there's blood shedding around various locations where they ought not be.

(07:43)
I would suggest to you though that it's reasonable to conclude that Mr. Cozzi was probably likely in a vulnerable position standing at the urinal when something first happened to him because of the blood spatter that's found low down on the urinal wall next to the urinal. Likely started there, a violent event extracting the blood from Steven Cozzi outside of the stall, but not just there, on the inside of the stall as well. On the northeast corner, on the north wall, underneath the toilet seat, in the drain Steven Cozzi's blood. That's not a natural occurrence as Dr. Jon Thogmartin said. That's not an accidental occurrence as Anna Cox and Dr. Jon Thogmartin said. That's not an accidental occurrence just from what common sense tells us all in the totality of the circumstances. But it doesn't in there because Steven Cozzi's blood is also on napkins that are found in the overflowing trash bin that everybody said is not normally overflowing.

(08:43)
Steven Cozzi's blood is found in a mixture of this man's DNA on the exterior door of the bathroom. And the suggestion that none of his DNA, none of my DNA is found inside the bathroom I think is absurd because the door swings in and Your Honor can look. We've got the pictures and evidence. The testimony is here. It's written on the swab where the swab's collected from, but you can see it. It's very distinctive. In all the photographs, this red swipe of Steven Cozzi's blood mixed with his DNA is entirely consistent with having to hold the door open with your arm and wheel the wagon out the door because it's such a tight space. And these Gorilla Carts, they got a good capacity. They turn really tight too. And you turn it tight out, you're putting your arm up, you're sweaty, you just got in a violent altercation, you've been cleaning up, your DNA's mixed with him on the door.

(09:35)
It all matches up forensically and common sense. 9:50, 10:22 violent act. What happens from there? Well, this man leaves, doesn't have a box on his shoulder no more, changed his clothes, looks kind of like scrubs to me, changes his clothes, walks out and now he's pulling the very heavy wagon outside. 9:50, 10:22, 10:22, he's pulling. He's clearly laboring over the weight. This isn't just carrying around a couple of chairs to the baseball field with a cooler in it. There's weight to it. There is weight to it. Steven Cozzi's in there. Steven Cozzi's folded up in this wagon and he's pulling him out. What happens? Then you see him walk and you see it in the surveillance video. He walks and you'll see it in the pictures. You see it in the Oscar 360. There's a handicap ramp that he has to turn right for. You see him wheel down the ramp. You see it. You see it has to go right to wheel down the ramp to get to his Toyota Tundra, which is backed into his space.

(10:32)
Then you see him go off camera. What happens then? Well, the digital forensic investigation revealed that his phone turned on. Now we're starting to get somewhere here. His phone turns on and now it's communicating to the tower. In fact, sitting in that parking space in his Toyota Tundra, were he just to look off to the right from his windshield, he would've seen the very cell tower that betrayed him, the digital evidence that betrayed him yet again.

(11:07)
He connects to the cell tower and what's interesting about that is Your Honor's got a great experience with these kind of cases with cell phones and I've certainly done dozens of cases involving cell phones. Rare is the case that you can actually put the cell phone in the hand of the offender at the time of the offense. Rare is that case. We have that here because he had to make his court hearing and he did because he wanted to get his March 28th, 2023 hearing scheduled related to the sanctions he was asking for against Steven Cozzi. He's desperate to get those scheduled. So he had to make his court hearing. Judge Muscarella and Jake Pillsbury both said that he was his normal self in the court hearing. So what do we have? We have his phone turning on. We have his phone connecting to a cell tower.

(12:01)
You have his phone records in evidence. Their T-Mobile numbers March 14th to March 21st that came in before Kevin Corrigan testified. I don't know the exhibit number off the top of my head. It shows that he connects to that 1-888 number, which is the conference call number on the notice, which is also in evidence under the batch of evidence from 193057CI. So he calls the number. Actually, interestingly enough, he dials the password code first, dials that first. Obviously nothing happens for that. Then he dials the 888 number. He connects and then Jim Weaver court technology of three decades came in and gave us the documentation that shows that his number, that 321663, connected to the conference call at that time for 30 minutes when his phone is in the Blanchard Law Firm parking lot, a place again he has no reason to be. Hearing's not being held there. He has no reason to be there.

(13:01)
Agent Corrigan of the CAS unit of the FBI, his data points now advanced, timing advanced data is not 100% precise. It's not like a GPS coordinate, but when the phone's stationary, it's pretty accurate and the phone is stationary for that entirety of that hearing. And if you look at the PDF that was entered in with him and also his testimony, the lines for the distance from the tower are essentially the parking space where his truck's parked while Steven Cozzi is in a wagon deceased next to his truck and he's conducting his hearing. Let's talk about that hearing. We have the testimony of two witnesses about that hearing. So that's the cell phone data. The cell phone is in his hand or connected to his car. It's whatever. He's talking on the cell phone. It's connected to the tower that's looming over the parking lot, showing him in the parking lot.

(13:59)
And they say that in this hearing, Steven's not there. And Jake Pillsbury, again, it plays out in his text. He goes, "Where are you? You need to be here. Steven never misses a hearing. This is unusual. Where's Steven?" What's he asking for? To hear the rest of his motions. The motions for sanctions against Steven Cozzi, ask him to hear those motions which are included therein about the fees that he thinks he should get, the hours of labor that he put into these cases. He wants to hear all of his final motions and they get it scheduled for March 28th, 2023. What's interesting about this is also the surveillance video. And if you link it up time-wise, there's no movement by him or this wagon during the course of that court hearing because he's in a court hearing in his Tundra while Steven is dead in a wagon next to his truck.

(14:50)
So then the court hearing's over and the digital forensic evidence shows that his phone is powered off again. So now we're losing location again because his phone's powered off. It was right there in the same spot, didn't move for the entirety of the court hearing. Now his phone's powered off. What does the surveillance show? He's repositioning the wagon and he's repositioning the wagon in a manner in which it looks like there's a lot of weight to it because there is because Steven's in the wagon. Totality of the circumstances, reasonable inference from the evidence, Steven's in the wagon.

(15:24)
Now, if this were a jury trial, Your Honor, and there were 12 people plus 4 alternates, we'd probably do a demonstration. I mean, he's obsessed with getting somebody in a wagon in this courtroom. He's obsessed with getting somebody in a trash bag in this courtroom. I can't speak to it. I would tell you Your Honor doesn't need that kind of demonstration. In fact, my assessment of that is it would be histrionic and unnecessary for us to engage in that sort of behavior in this form in this setting because you understand how it works and you understand Dr. Jon Thogmartin's testimony that he says, "Yeah, you can lift the wagon into a truck." I think the best evidence for that is Steven Cozzi's blood's in the tailgate of his truck. I think the best evidence for that is the wagon is actually in the back of the truck. It is. It's in the back of the truck.

(16:08)
The best evidence for that is our expert, Dr. Jon Thogmartin said, "Yeah, that's consistent with a body being in the truck." And even if you didn't have the expert, common sense tells you that on that flock camera, when it turns a corner and Steven's lifeless body shifts, it looks like a human being with a knee and a head under the blanket in the bed of that truck. So it got in there.

(16:28)
And also, first of all, this is not the same as a Toyota Tundra tailgate, a smooth desk in this courtroom. It's got a bed liner in it. It's rough. When you're backed in and you drop the tailgate, as the witness has testified to, there's a rise in the ground there. It's actually probably about 12 inches up because of the roots that are there from that big oak tree that you can see in the pictures. So it's actually less of a clearance. And as Dr. Thogmartin said, you put the wheels first and then you deadlift the back. What else corroborates that? But his own injuries, which are three to four days old. Oh, March 21st to March 25th, older than three days, probably that four-day to five-day range. His bruises, you can probably, if he wanted to do an experiment, he'd do an experiment on his injuries, because that's the cup holders from the Gorilla Cart that are bruising him here.

(17:27)
The bruise here on his left arm, there's a bar on the wagon that exactly comports with that. On his stomach, there's a bruise with an abrasion like he was cut. If you look at the wagon State's Exhibit 25, it's pointy and it's sharp at that point, at that point where it folds. So are we suggesting it was easy for him? Was he surprisingly strong in lifting it? Probably not. He was probably struggling with it. That's why he has the injuries. That's why he has the bruises. That's why he has the abrasions, because he was struggling with. That's why his knees are messed up, because he was down there. Those are three to four days old. As well his knees are messed up as he's struggling to get the back of the cart in Steven's lifeless body, literal dead weight into the bed of his truck.

(18:17)
So the phone's off. From 11:04, when he first shifted that cart to about 11:14, he's struggling with it for 10 minutes. We know when he's successful because the very same PSTA bus surveillance, which later catches him after making a couple of stops, drives by, and you got to look hard, but you got it in evidence. It's in evidence in this PSTA video and it's a still shot in the PDF or in the PowerPoint presentation. You can see a figure standing in the bed of the Tundra doing something. It appears to be maneuvering a wagon, kind of crouched down, maneuvering the wagon is what it appears to be. So it's about 11:14. He goes back and just for good measure, he goes back and looks to make sure he didn't lose anything. And then you see the Tundra drive away. It's the same Tundra. It's the same truck that goes all the way to his house because we follow the breadcrumbs. We follow bit by bit by bit that Tundra.

(19:15)
There's many things that in this case that could have gone differently. One, he could have left his phone at home. He could have missed the court hearing. That's a huge piece of evidence against him. He had a very nice roll and lock tonneau cover in the bed of that Tundra that he acquired from Mark Otto. He had a very nice truck. He took very good care of it. Remember that part? He detailed it and kept very good care of his truck and it's a mess when we see it in his garage at 511 Seaview. But had he just closed the tonneau cover, it would've been very challenging for us to follow that all the way to 511 Seaview Drive. In fact, you see the PSTA bus footage, there's another Tundra of the same generation, similar color right behind him at a traffic light. The difference being that Tundra has a toolbox in the back and not a deceased person in the back, in a wagon.

(20:04)
So we were able to follow him. So then you can see on the surveillance tape from the veterinary clinic, you see the truck leaving, you see him turning and you see him going north on Belcher Road. That's the first indicator, the first little breadcrumb that we have of the wagon with the red blanket or tarp or covering over Steven's lifeless body. And then you have the Circle K video, which is in evidence, and there's still shots from that too as it passes by. And then you have the PSTA bus footage because he catches up to the bus because it's been making stops. And in fact, if you watch the video all the way through, he's actually behind the bus in the right lane consistent with leaving the Blanchard Law Firm. He's in the right lane. And he has to go around because the bus is stopped and there's traffic's backing.

(20:47)
And he does, he goes around and then that's the first time on the PSTA bus video that you really get a close view of this wagon with this lifeless body in the back that's covered up by a red covering. And if that wasn't enough, they roll up to a stoplight and for all his planning and it's methodically planning it out and it's systematic nature of planning it out, this gorilla car has brakes on it that you could have set the brakes and he didn't set the brakes. So that wagon rolls backwards, hits the tailgate and it moves, as Dr. Jon Thogmartin said, consistent with the body. And I'd say you could just use common sense that it moves backwards and hits the tailgate. And that's Steven's body in there hits the tailgate and you see it move. Common sense tells you it moves consistent with the body.

(21:35)
And Largo, in their investigation, goes and finds all this video. We put it in evidence. It was Tuesday, I think, or I think it was Tuesday where he had all these separate people coming in as the records custodians, the silent witnesses for their videos. We put them in evidence. We published portions later in the PowerPoint presentation, but the entirety of the recordings are in there if Your Honor wants to review them. And what you see is the truck driving by. It's his Tundra. You see it driving by with a wagon in the back. You see the wagon in the back with a red covering on it, and they follow it brick by brick, point by point, breadcrumb by breadcrumb until they lose because Belcher splits off at some point. So they go one direction and they try to follow the lead. I think it was Chick-fil-A was the restaurant that had the good surveillance that did not show the truck.

(22:22)
So then they went the other direction and flock cameras for, I suppose all the controversy took a really good picture of that Toyota Tundra that day, very detailed. If you look at that flock picture, it's in there separately, I believe. It's in the PowerPoint. I know that for sure, but it's also in a packet. It's a flock packet that we entered into pursuant to a business record exception. And you can see it and you can see it says Gorilla Cart on the car. You can read Gorilla Cart on the car and you can also see the outline of Steven Cozzi's lifeless body, Klosterman Road on the flock picture. Looks like it's knee, looks like his head.

(23:04)
And then they continue on. We've got the high school in Tarpon. We've got the middle school in Tarpon. They're not that close, but you can see it's a truck consistent with his truck going in the direction of his house. And then we link it together on his own street on the approach to his street of 511 Seaview. We've got the one gentleman who has the camera footage of him. He didn't know how to work it. He had let the cops download it, but he told us where the cameras were. Truck drives by very fast, wagon in the back. The other address, Mr. Masciantonio, he's told us where the cameras were, said the cops had to come help him download it. What's driving by his house? This man's truck with a wagon in the back with Steven Cozzi's lifeless body wrapped in a red blanket or tarp.

(23:50)
What's next? 504 Seaview Drive. Surveillance footage shows the Tundra driving in the direction of his house. There's nowhere to go. Fred Howard Park and a turtle sanctuary. There's no out. Truck don't leave. It goes into his garage where we find the truck later. What happens from there? Well, now his phone powers on and what's the first thing that he does? He goes, "Hey Lewis, how are you?" His first text message is about 12:02. "Hey Lewis, how are you, my neighbor Lewis?" He's going to say, "Hey," after all that. "Hey Lewis, how are you?" Why is he doing that?

(24:24)
From approximately noon till 4:50 when he leaves the house, there's about a two- hour time period where his phone's not active. He's not doing anything. And as Dr. Jon Thogmartin said, rigor would not have... It was tough testimony to listen to, but rigor mortis is not going to set in the body for four or five hours, meaning a deceased body is pliable. You can maneuver the body, you can package the body, and yes, a body will fit in a 39 gallon trash bag and you can repackage it and you can put it in a Toyota Corolla easily. And what's the corroborating information for that? Well, the corroborating information for that is in the middle of this man's floor in his garage, 511 Seaview, is Steven Cozzi's blood. In the middle of his floor in his garage at 511 Seaview is Steven Cozzi's blood mixed with his DNA.

(25:14)
That's consistent with him removing Steven from the bed of his truck, putting him in an area to put him in another bag to put him in the Toyota Corolla. Steven Cozzi's DNA is mixed with this man's DNA in the trunk of his Toyota Corolla on the back wall of the trunk, so i.e., the part that separates the seating area from the actual trunk part and on the trunk lid as well. It's a mixture of this man's DNA and Steven Cozzi's DNA. Ample time to repackage a body. So he leaves. We got the surveillance video of him leaving in the Corolla and he's heading towards the direction of Miami. He must forget something because he comes back. And what's interesting about that, him coming back, is that he automatically connects to his Wi-Fi in his house. So he's inside of the house. Just like his phone betrayed him at the Blanchard Law Firm, it auto connects inside of his house because that's how he's got his phone set up.

(26:09)
He leaves again after about three minutes and he heads south. To be clear to Miami, because he has surgeries the next day, we saw the text messages, he has some BBLs scheduled the next day in Miami for his plastic surgery job. So he heads south to Miami, but the normal way is to go US 19 to Miami. Maybe nowadays you take the magic toll road that cost 86 cents and you can avoid all the lights on 19, you get right on 275. Time didn't exist. At the time for him, it wouldn't have mattered because where does he drive? He drives past the Blanchard Law Firm at 1501 South Belcher Drive. His phone betrays him again. It connects to the tower. His timing advance data shows that he drove by the Blanchard Law Firm. What was out there at the time? We asked this question to everybody who was there.

(26:54)
Lance Moore was there at the exact time that he drove by. The forensic specialists were there at the exact time he drove by. What's parked out front? Well, police cruisers are parked out front. The big CSI Ford transit van with the sheriff's office delivery on it is parked out front. A multitude of unmarked detective cars are out front, but there's a lot of blacked out Nissan Pathfinders with government plates on them. It's not a shock what's going on at this law firm when he drives by.

(27:25)
What else does he do? What does his digital forensic footprint show us after the examination? He's searching WFLA News. Why is he doing that? What's the purpose in that? Is that germane to civil litigation? Is that germane to search a Tampa news organization for traffic on the way to Miami? Because he doesn't just do it that one time. He does it again a couple hours later as he's driving down the road. There's no reason for that other than he's trying to figure out what they know about what happened at the Blanchard Law Firm. So what's the next thing we have? We have toll data, we have LPRs. Normally that's unremarkable, but it gives us a timeline that corroborates the timing advance data, which essentially shows his direct path from scouting out the Blanchard Law Firm to Miami. Now what's interesting about that? Well, at some point he diverts after he's on Alligator Alley, he diverts south to the Tamiami Trail.

(28:21)
We got a license plate reader. It's in evidence, couldn't tell you what number it is. The certification says Motorola on it. It's for the vigilant LPR system, license plate reader system. It shows him popping at the intersection that's before Loop Road. That's our timeframe. Th's our first timeframe, like 9:10 PM. Then we got another one about 9:36 PM, which is on the other side of where this dumpster's located. And I suspect he's going to get up here and he's going to argue about a minute time period or a three-minute time period, but it's an estimation. The bottom line is he stopped. And the bottom line is he stopped for at least a minute. And if this were a jury trial, what I would do at this point is I would set my cell phone timer for a minute and I would sit it right here and I would stare awkwardly at the jury for about a minute.

(29:07)
And I would do that to demonstrate how awkward and how long a minute actually is and how much you can actually accomplish in a minute's time. If this were a jury trial, it might be necessary to sort of mimic removing a body from a Toyota Corolla trunk and bringing it a very short distance by the way, because you can get a car right next to that door. You see it in the pictures from Alicia Craig. The door to the dumpster is only 30 inches off the deck. So to move that lifeless body that's been repackaged and now it's suffering rigor mortis, right? Now it's stiff. It's not moving. So you can easily maneuver it into the dumpster. You can do a lot in a minute, especially with the adrenaline's pumping. I think that's another thing we're forgetting about. Dr. Kosowski wants to do his little... He wants to get volunteers from the audience to do his examples in court, is after you murder somebody, and you got to get the hell out of there because your court hearing's over with and you just turn your phone off. Your adrenaline's going to be pumping.

(30:06)
He's already a big guy, 6-foot, 190. Just existing in the world as 6-foot and 190, you got to lift yourself every day. The evidence of his injuries show that he probably was struggling with the car to get it in there because he was heavy. So he did it once to get it in the dumpster. A minute or three minutes, they're time estimates. But he stopped is what the evidence shows, is that he stopped. He could play games all day long with the investigator and about timeframes and 60 miles an hour. I would suggest to you the surveillance videos show throughout this case that he's always driving fast. He's probably not going the speed limit on the Tamiami Trail. But you can do a lot in a minute. And then March 23 corroborates that, that you can do a lot in a minute.

(30:52)
So he stops at this dumpster for at least a minute, probably not even three minutes. That would be too long and it wouldn't make sense for him to stop that long. I would submit to you when you see the dumpster video again, if you watch it again, you've seen it in court so many times, you don't have to, but when you see the heavy dead weight because rigor's broken at this point because decomposition set in, that's a body. It flops in there like a body. It's reasonable to conclude that. I think the evidence shows it. I think the expert testimony shows it. I think George Valenti's testimony, and I'm sorry that the Cozzis and I'm sorry that Michael had to hear this, but the way he described it was fucking vile, that the odor was so bad, it's consistent with decomposition. The way it falls, it's heavy. It's as if his body's falling in the dumpster.

(31:37)
But there's something else interesting on that video is because there's other matching sort of trash bags, big black trash bags that George Valenti said is inconsistent with what he normally takes on a dumping route from that dumpster. I would humbly submit to Your Honor that if you were to look at this and I think it's reasonable to conclude that it looks like the outline of a wagon's in there somewhere and that's probably where the rest of this evidence went is that very same dumpster. Which he knows from his advanced research methodically and systematically, they're going to dump that on a Thursday because he's been there when they dumped it before. So what happens there that's interesting? And I don't want to make too much about the next point, but I think what's interesting for a man who has Beatles paraphernalia, Beatles paintings, Beatles pictures, Beatles books all over his house. And when the lobby of 1501 South Belcher has a gigantic John Lennon mural in there, I think this man knows the Beatles catalog probably forwards and backwards. He majored in music.

(32:40)
When his phone is about 10:31 PM, this is likely the first time he's back in cell service range to get a reliable connection to his music. Because if you look at the map, there's a big gap in his timing advance data because as Lance Moore testified, he also has T-Mobile. He also was down there on a search and rescue mission and when he was down there, his phone didn't work either. So I would suggest to you that systematically and methodically planning everything else that it was probably significant to him to listen to John Lennon's posthumously published song Free as a Bird. Now I'm not going to explain the lyrics here because I'm not a Beatles fan. So I'm not going to explain the lyrics. Maybe that's not the best song, but to this man, it probably likely meant something.

(33:27)
But we can table that. That's just a nugget of information I think in the totality of the circumstances, which I think is consistent with everything else that he planned out, listening to that song Free as a Bird after he dumps the body in the dumpster. Next day, unremarkable for Dr. Kosowski. It's not unremarkable for the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, the Largo Police Department. It's not unremarkable for the Cozzis and it's certainly not unremarkable for Michael Montgomery because his husband's missing. But for him, he performed surgery the next day and you see auto connect Wi-Fi, it's 5:00 in the morning, he's connected to one of these surgery centers-

Nathan Vonderheide (34:00):

... 5 o'clock in the morning is connected to one of the surgery centers.

(34:04)
March 22nd, 2023 is where this... We've gone over it chronologically, but this is really where the investigation starts. This is where the police officers are systematically and methodically going to every business on Belcher Road to review surveillance. This is where Ashley Luth and all the rest of the dedicated public servants, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office, CSI unit are methodically and systematically processing that bathroom for evidence. This is where some of these swabs are already being rushed to the Pinellas County Forensic Laboratory for initial DNA analysis. This is where they're putting it together. He just does surgery that day.

(34:42)
March 23, these dedicated public servants with Largo Police Department and with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office continue their investigation and it leads him to this man's house, following the breadcrumbs, following the surveillance, photographic videographic evidence. It leads them to this man's house. They do a knock and talk. He's not home. He's in Miami. He's working. He went to work the next day. That's where he is.

(35:04)
So they put it together, and they put together enough information to get a search warrant. And this is where Tarpon Springs comes in. And whether they were witting participants in the beginning or not, it was their jurisdiction. And they served the search warrant and they seized the evidence and they had Largo detectives present just in case they had a question about something.

(35:22)
Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is there to forensically process. And what do they find? They find the Toyota Tundra. It's got a tag flipping device installed on it. He didn't do a good job with it. There's wires everywhere. But he had a tag flipping device. There's blood on the tailgate. They collect that blood. Swab of the Toyota tailgate. What is it? It's Steven Cozzi's blood on his tailgate. That shouldn't be there. The only way it gets there is if he gets it there. He moves Steven Cozzi into the bed of his truck.

(35:54)
Where else is Steven Cozzi's blood and DNA? Well, they do the luminol inside the garage and there's two spots. One of them is the middle garage floor. Steven Cozzi's blood is found in there, mixed with his DNA. 511 Seaview, there's no reason for that. There's no reason for that at all. The only reasonable explanation for that or reasonable inference from the totality of the facts is that he put it there when he brought Steven's lifeless body to his garage to repackage him and put him in the trunk of the Toyota Corolla.

(36:26)
So that's going on March 23. But what the testimony showed too is that on March 23, 2023, around 9 o'clock at night, they're getting alerts from license plate readers. They're like, "Oh no, this man's coming home. We better prepare because we're about to serve a search warrant on his house." Well, he wasn't going home. He was just going in a direction towards Tampa Bay because he was going to the dumpster at Big Loop Road and 41 and the Tamiami Trail.

(36:55)
"Why are you going back to the dumpster?" That's a great question. Why are you going back to the dumpster? There's no legitimate purpose to go back to the dumpster. It's not germane to any civil litigation. It's not germane to anything else. If you hadn't stopped the day before, there's no reason to go back to it. Two days before, I'm sorry. If you hadn't stopped two days before, there's no reason to go back to it because he didn't go back the 22nd.

(37:20)
March 23, what does he do? Goes back to that area in the middle of nowhere in the great state of Florida and turns around and leaves. Why? Because he looked and the deposit of Steven Cozzi's body was gone. It was gone. He went back to check. Meanwhile, at his house in Tarpon Springs, they are systematically and methodically processing it and getting the evidence to use against him.

(37:47)
What's going on now? Well, March 24th, there was a BOLO out for this man. Detective Hunt is in Miami looking for him. And you know he had probable cause to search the Corolla because he said he wrote it up. It was ready to go in a search warrant form. The probable cause to search the Corolla existed at that moment, and all he needed to do was plug in the jurisdiction that was going to serve it and the VIN number for the car because he didn't know that yet. That's it. He had probable cause to search Corolla wherever he was going to find it in the state of Florida. Don't find him, still plugging along methodically and systematically doing the investigation.

(38:22)
And then we have March 25th, 2023 when he's driving back home from Miami. Again, plate readers are coming into effect. They know that his pathway is coming north towards Tampa Bay. What does he do before he comes back to Tampa Bay, to Tarpon Springs, to 511 Seaview? First of all, he leaves his dogs in Miami. So I suggest to you whatever he was going to do, he was planning on returning immediately. Whatever he went back to Tarpon Springs for, he was going to return immediately to Miami.

(38:51)
But what else does he do? He has some interesting web searches, which Lance Moore uncovered through iCloud data, through his phone extraction, through an investigative analysis for his digital fingerprint. He searches Largo Police. He searches Largo police warrants. He misspells it. He searches Largo police warrants. If he had done a modicum of research about any of these kind of things, he would know that warrants like that aren't posted online under the police station's website, but he didn't. So he thinks he's safe. No Largo police warrants came up on his Google search. No Largo Police Department information came up on his Google search, so he heads back to Tarpon Springs. And then again, Tarpon Springs is in this investigation because it's their jurisdiction. They stop his car, they detain him, they read the search warrant of the car, they're in the direction. Pinellas County Sheriff's Office is as well. They seize items of evidence from the car. They seize the car itself. They turn it over to Pinellas County Sheriff's Office who then is followed back to a bay of processing, which happens to be in Largo's jurisdiction, even though it's the sheriff's office rental garage wherein the sheriff's office continues their processing of this car. And then we have him detained in Tarpon Springs. What's interesting about that is a lot of things, Your Honor, and I think it goes to conscious of guilt. First thing I want to talk about is his Corolla, and I want to talk about the trunk of his Corolla. And I want to talk about what's found in the trunk of his Corolla, because I think this all goes to consciousness of guilt.

(40:16)
He's got a folding bicycle in there now. He's got a Cask can in there now. He's got a flat jacket, a ballistics vest that says EMS on it underneath everything. But then shoved on the top is another ballistics vest. Shoved on the top of everything else in the trunk of his car is another ballistics vest with Steven Cozzi's blood on it. Steven Cozzi's blood is on a ballistics vest in the trunk of his Corolla. That shouldn't be there. That shouldn't be there. There's no reasonable, innocent explanation for that being in the trunk of his car.

(40:52)
What else is there as they systematically and methodically search his Toyota Corolla? Well, DNA swabs with a mixture of his DNA and Steven Cozzi's DNA. Steven Cozzi's DNA should not be in the trunk of his Toyota Corolla. There's no legal explanation for that. In the totality of the circumstances and the evidence, the reasonable inference from those facts is that Steven Cozzi's lifeless body was in the trunk of his car. That's the reasonable inference from the totality of the circumstances in this case.

(41:19)
What else do we find in the car that's interesting? $282,100 is an interesting find in his car. Why is that in there? Consciousness of guilt. Do you have to flee? How many Toyota Corolla 2020 model hybrids in America right now are driving around with $282,100? I think common sense suggests to you zero. He was the only one that day driving around with that much money in it. Consciousness of guilt.

(41:45)
What else is in his bag, his kit, his tools, his tools, his things? His passports, his United States passport and his Polish passport. There may be some argument that his Polish passport was expired. It doesn't matter. He's got two passports in there. It's consciousness of guilt.

(42:04)
What else does he have? He has the masks, he has the ski masks. He has a black hat. He has other masks, surgical masks. He has duct tape. He has tasers. He has brass knuckles, knives. He has succinylcholine and he has a needle. Again, if this man had read his own research and truly understand how succinylcholine would work, he would know that that entire bottle would probably kill somebody. But his needle wasn't big enough. It was only 3 CCs, just enough to really stun somebody and make sure that they couldn't move for three minutes, make sure they couldn't scream for three minutes, make sure that they were aware for three minutes before it wore off, make sure that they could experience pain but not fight back, that they were docile for three minutes. That's what that 3 CC dosage would provide.

(42:56)
What else do we get from that? Well, he's detained in the back of a police cruiser for a number of hours. What's interesting about that is Detective Jerry Hunt told you, "Look, he said he needed to use the bathroom. I drove him to Tarpon Springs, let him use the bathroom, told him not to wash his hands, did anyway." It's fine. We'll give him that. It's fine. He said he was thirsty. Detective Jerry Hunt gave him water, let him drink some water.

(43:19)
What else is interesting about that? Well, there's a video in evidence. We've seen it. I don't suggest anybody watch it again because it's so horrifying. But on the radio they say, "Yeah, Largo PD's on the way back with the body warrant." Jerry Hunt opens the door, tells him the body warrant is en route. What does this man do? Well, he demonstrates his flexibility and his dexterity and his contortiousness act and he takes his cups from the back of him to the front of him, from the back to the front. And what does he do? He systematically and methodically cleans out every nail.

(43:59)
You notice this in the video, whether you want to or not, we watched it together. Systematically and methodically, he doesn't miss a finger. And just for good measure, he takes another swipe out and he's licking them and he's filing them under his teeth. Why? Because he just got into a big altercation when he killed Steven Cozzi in the bathroom on 3-21-2023 at 1501 South Belcher. Consciousness of guilt, we can use it in the totality of the circumstances in this case, along with the money, along with his behavior and detention, along with all the other evidence.

(44:42)
So what do we have here in the totality of the circumstances? And I anticipate what he's going to get up and argue, and he's going to get up and argue minute details, each little minute details and ignoring the totality of the case. Because in any case, when we're analyzing it and you're analyzing it for beyond a reasonable doubt, if you cleave off just little bits of a case and you analyze just that little bit of the case and you ignore everything else, well, you're going to force it doubt. And that's not lawful. That's not what the law says. That's a forced doubt. Little bits cleaved off, analyzed in isolation is a forced doubt. It's unlawful.

(45:16)
The lawful thing is the totality of the case, that the jury instructions say all of the evidence is to take into consideration whether it's beyond a reasonable doubt. And I think it leads to only one conclusion. Ms. Spadaro and I, from the very beginning with this man's case, from his advisory when he was first arrested, went through painstaking efforts to give respect to his title. Dr. Kosowski. If I made a mistake and said "mister," I corrected myself to Dr. Kosowski. And there were some points in this trial that I may have said defendant or I may have said Mr. Kosowski or that man, but make no mistake, that was after the threshold of the evidence to take away his presumption of innocence because the reality is, is that his status and his knowledge and his analytical mind gave him access to things that most people wouldn't have, gave him access to things, his tools, that he could use in the perpetuation of this first degree murder. This premeditation is systematic and methodical.

(46:22)
It gave him access to succinylcholine, which incidentally, the same lot number was in his surgery center in Miami. The box only had four vials. They normally come with like 10. There's only four left. One's in his car. It suggests you there was probably another one, but it's now in a Collier County landfill with everything else. He was able to use his access and his knowledge to download and review and read academic journal articles about the effects of succinylcholine and the duration of action in somebody's muscle. It gave him access and it gave him a schedule, which mean that he didn't work basically Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday and gave him ample opportunity, interestingly enough, on a multitude of Tuesdays in March of 2023 to be skulking and creeping around at 1501 South Belcher where the Blanchard Law Firm's located. It gave him the monetary means to have $282,000 in his car for his consciousness of guilt and to acquire his other tools or things, a very capable gorilla cart, generous capacity, oversized, $32,000 cash for a pickup truck which he never registered, tag flippers, duct tape.

(47:41)
So the time for calling him doctor is over. It's over. He's the defendant. The time for the presumption of innocence is over. That cloak that protects him and the presumption of innocence from mere allegations from myself and Ms. Spadaro, it's ripped off now. And Your Honor, I don't know when that part came for you. It was probably Thursday expert day after Kevin Corrigan testified and put his cell phone in the parking space where his Tundra was, where Steven's lifeless body was parked outside of it, but especially after Chad Summerfield testified and put Steven Cozzi's DNA in a multitude of locations where it didn't belong, most of which were owned by the defendant Kosowski.

(48:27)
But make no mistake, the presumption of innocence is gone now. And the overwhelming weight of the evidence in the totality of the analysis of this case, the totality of every piece of evidence, 150 pieces of evidence that Ms. Spadaro and I have systematically and methodically presented to Your Honor over the course of the last six days in court time lead to only one conclusion, and that's on March 21st of 2023 between 9:50 and 10:22 in the morning, this man murdered Steven Cozzi. And he murdered him in a violent way, leaving his blood in a multitude of locations. And Steven Cozzi's pattern of life ceased physically and financially.

(49:17)
He never got home to make that chicken that night. He'll never see his husband again. He's dead, shoved into the back of a gorilla cart, a wagon, which we made a mockery of in this courtroom by asking for multiple demonstrations.

(49:34)
There's only one box to check in this case, Your Honor, and that's the defendant, Tomasz Kosowski, is guilty of first degree murder.

Judge (49:47):

Thank you, Mr. Vonderheide. We'll go ahead and take a 15-minute break and then we'll continue after that.

Speaker 1 (49:51):

The Court is now back in session.

(49:51)
All right. You may be seated.

Judge (01:05:39):

Thank you. All right. Mr. Kosowski, would you like to give a closing argument?

Mr. Kosowski (01:05:42):

Yes, Your Honor.

Judge (01:05:43):

Okay. You may proceed.

Mr. Kosowski (01:05:48):

Thank you for this opportunity to speak. I'd like to address this case in light of the three elements that are required to prove a premeditated murder took place. The first element is that Steven Cozzi is dead, and I'd like to make four points in this regard.

(01:06:10)
My first point is that Steven's body was never recovered in this case. My second point is that there is no death certificate in this case. Now, the state had three and a half years to get a death certificate in this case, but it didn't. And Dr. Thogmartin had several months, maybe even years to issue a death certificate in this case, and he didn't.

(01:06:40)
The third point that I'd like to make is that the state insists that there was a sensation of financial life with Steven Cozzi on or about the 21st of March, and that is most certainly not the case. Just yesterday, we were going through statements and we were going through Steven Cozzi's statements, and we saw that there were several transactions made on the 21st of March, heading all the way down to mid-April from amazon.com, from PayPal, from Grammarly, from Amazon Prime Video. Now, these transactions were all non-recurring transactions. These transactions were scattered across two of Steven's credit cards. They were on a PayPal card that ended in 9673 and on a Wells Fargo card that ended in 8377. So there are financial markers that Steven's accounts are being used afterward. And this financial activity carried on at least into mid-April.

(01:07:59)
The Amazon Prime Video transaction for 1022 was not-

Mr. Kosowski (01:08:00):

... Prime video transaction for 10:22 was not recurring. That didn't occur anywhere else, anywhere else in Steven's financials records, and it occurred on March 17th... excuse me, on April 17th. I suspect that if we looked even further into the future, we would find even more of just these transactions. And the other thing I'd like to bring to your attention, Your Honor, is that the one thing that the state would hope that you would not notice in that gloss over is that all of Steven Cozzi's credit cards were not accounted for on the day that he was missing in that wallet in his office. The fourth point I'd like to make is that-

Nathan Vonderheide (01:08:48):

This fact's not in the evidence, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:08:51):

All right. Well, I'll evaluate it. Go ahead.

Mr. Kosowski (01:08:56):

The fourth point I would like to make is that it is entirely uncertain of what happened to Steven Cozzi in that bathroom. The blood spatter analyst said she has no idea what happened to Steven Cozzi. The blood spatter was consistent with, she said, either him being shot or him being stabbed or him being assaulted, or him sustaining an injury in a fall, or him even having a nosebleed.

(01:09:26)
She also concluded that it is impossible to determine how much blood volume Steven Cozzi lost in that bathroom. If you don't have a mechanism of death, you cannot demonstrate exsanguination inconsistent with life. You do not have the basic elements of a murder. In terms of the second element of premeditated murder, the criminal act or criminal agency element, I would say that the criminal act that the state accuses me of perpetuating is physically impossible. It is physically impossible to transfer a body in the manner the state suggests.

(01:10:22)
The wheelbase of that gorilla cart is much, much shorter than the height of the tailgate of that truck. What that means is you can't, as Mr. Vonderheide suggested, lift up that gorilla cart, put the front set of wheels on top of that tailgate, bedlift the back, and push it onto the back of the truck. The only other option, in order to get that cart onto that tailgate, is to physically deadlift it with all the weight in front, the 32 inches, and mind you, take into account what they're proposing.

(01:11:10)
You take that full weight, that 200 pounds, in a big and bulky cart. You take that, you lift it up straight in front of you, and you get it onto that truck. That's physically impossible. I mean, maybe not, for like an Olympic caliber deadlifter. And Mr. Vonderheide knows this very, very well. And that is why he refused to lift up that cart yesterday. The second point I'd like to make is that the timing of this murder is physically impossible. If you'll recall, Detective Bolton said that his theory of the murder is that on the morning of 3/21, I walked into 1501 B. Belcher. I hid somewhere. I proceeded to kill Steven Cozzi in the bathroom.

(01:12:06)
I proceeded to clean the bathroom. I loaded his body into a cart. I wheeled it outside. I loaded it onto a truck. I drove home. I transferred that body to a Corolla. I drove to the Loop Grove dumpster and I dumped that body into the dumpster around 9:30 in the evening and then I went home to my Miami residence. I'd like to read for you an excerpt from the FBI agent, Kevin Corrigan's testimony.

Nathan Vonderheide (01:12:47):

Judge, I would object to him reading an excerpt from a transcript. If he wants to recount what the testimony was, I think that's perfectly proper, but reading in a transcript I think would be inappropriate.

Your Honor (01:12:56):

Well, I'll overrule the objection. I mean, he can say from his memory what the testimony was, but if he has an actual transcript of it, I mean, he can read that. Obviously, it'll be a lot more accurate than his memory go ahead.

Mr. Kosowski (01:13:13):

Thank you, Your Honor. So at the bottom of page 23 of this transcript, by the way, would you like a copy of this, Your Honor?

Your Honor (01:13:22):

I have a copy.

Mr. Kosowski (01:13:23):

Wonderful. At the bottom of page 23 of the transcript, we're going to come in a mid statement on Mr. Corrigan. And I'd like to read up until about the middle of page 23. "So between 10:24 and 11:03, the phone is consistent with being at the law firm, which is close in time to when the surveillance video shows that I'm told the defendant is entering the law firm at 10:22 AM. So we have video showing the defendant arriving at 10:22 AM. And then we have the phone records resuming at 10:24 AM, consistent with being at the Blanchard Law Firm."

(01:14:14)
Question: "And those two arcs again, are those distance or inside of those two arcs?" Answer: "Correct." Question. "And the phone is stationary from that time period?" Answer: "That's correct." Question: "All right. The last time we have showing is 11:03." Answer: "That's because at 11:03 the phone records once again stop this time for about 59 minutes. So the phone records stop at 11:03 and we see that 11:16, we have a video showing that the same target vehicle is now driving away from the law firm. So we have phone records stopping and then approximately 13 minutes we see that the target vehicle leaves the law firm."

(01:15:04)
So what Agent Corrigan just testified to was that the phone was at the law firm from 10:24 to 11:03. He also just testified that I arrived at 11:22 and I left at 11:16. That's a time period of 54 minutes. We know from court records that I was in a telephonic hearing from 10:27 to 11:03. And I would suggest that it is impossible for me to kill anybody while I'm on a telephonic court hearing. That leaves five minutes before the telephone court hearing or 13 minutes after the telephone court hearing in order for me to kill Steven Cozzi.

(01:15:56)
Now, this is an extremely small window of time, but the state would have you believe that in this small window of time that I walked into a busy office complex on a Tuesday morning. That I found the hiding place. And then when the timing was just right, I cornered Steven Cozzi in the bathroom and killed him. Now I committed this murder in a common area, in the bathroom, in the middle of a busy office complex. I'm surrounded by three businesses. To my left is the law office, to my right is Renate, to the front is the veterinarians.

(01:16:41)
No one heard a thing. No one saw anything, despite there being people literally 10 to 20 feet within that bathroom. I proceed to clean that bathroom. I load Steven Cozzi's body onto a cart, I roll it out and I load the cart with Steven Cozzi's body in it with superhuman strength onto that truck and then I drive off. Oh, and by the way, I not only do this all in 5 or 13 minutes, I also do not leave a speck of my DNA in that bathroom as was testified by the DNA expert. Then I drive to my house. Apparently the body is going to be there for five hours with me and then I transfer that body to a red Corolla and drive to Loop Road in South Florida.

(01:17:47)
And I would like to again read from Mr. Corrigan or Agent Corrigan's transcript if I may. Beginning on page 26. This is Mr. Korn answering a question. He says, "So this slide picks up right where the last slide left off. At 5:46, the records start and they go to about 11:00 PM. You can see the records are now consistent with the phone traveling away from the law firm, south through Pinellas, Sarasota, Fort Myers, eventually heading east on Tamiami Trail. And you can see the cell phone travels behind the area of the dumpster, Tamiami Trail The Tamiami Trail, the intersection of Loop Road between 9:33 and 9:34 PM."

(01:18:41)
"About four miles east of that dumpster is a license plate reader that captured the tag of the defendant's vehicle at approximately 9:36 PM. And we have timing advance records showing that the phone in that area about that time co-locating this target phone with the license plate reader and the defendant's vehicle."

(01:19:07)
So to sum up Agent Corrigan's findings I'm at the Loop Road intersection from 9:33 to 9:34. The next time they see me is at 9:36, two minutes later, at a license plate reader four miles away. That means I traveled four miles in two minutes, equating to 120 miles per hour in those two minutes. The state would have you believe that in that one minute from 9:33 to 9:34 I turned off of Tamiami to the right, I go some distance. I turn left into Monroe station, I go some distance. I pull in front of the dumpster. I got out of my car. I removed the carabiner and chain from the dumpster and slid open the side door.

(01:20:01)
I unloaded Steven Cozzi's body from the Corolla with superhuman strength. I lifted the body three to four feet in the air to the sliding door and dumped it. I closed the sliding door. I reinstalled the chain and the carabiner. I get into my car. I start driving away. I drive. I take a right onto Loop Road and I take a right onto Tamiami and I speed away at 120 miles an hour for the next two miles. Oh, I do all this in one minute without leaving a single bit of evidence at the dumpster.

(01:20:43)
I propose, what makes a lot more sense is that from the time I arrive at Loop Road, 9:33, I drive three minutes straight to the license plate reader, four miles away, without stopping. That means I drove 80 miles an hour from Loop Road to the license plate reader, which is embarrassingly fast, but is way more believable than the scenario that I just laid out that the state wants you to believe.

(01:21:15)
So, to summarize in regards to the second element of murder, the criminal agency element, not only is it impossible physically to do what the state asserts is required of anybody, let alone me, it makes no sense in time, both at when the state alleges a murder took place at 1501B Belcher and when the state alleges a body was dumped off at Loop Road.

(01:21:44)
With regards to the third element, the premeditation element, if you don't satisfy the first element of murder, and if you don't satisfy the second element of murder, it is impossible to satisfy the third element of murder. Now, I'd like to conclude my remarks with two trains of thought. The first the state would have you believe that everything is very clear cut, cut and dry in this case, that all aspects flow logically from one event to another. The problem is that if everything is truly so tidy, that if everything flows so logically, then the payoff is that you find Steven Cozzi's body in that landfill. There is no other option.

(01:22:44)
If the state's theory of the murder is correct, you have to find Steven Cozzi's body in that landfill, but they didn't. Not only did they not find remains of him, they didn't find a red sweater. They didn't find his jeans. They didn't find a blue cart. They didn't find an Apple Watch. Not a trace of him at that landfill or of him at that dumpster. And they had everything at their disposal. They had excavators. They had surveillance videos. They had a huge multi-agency staff. They had crime scene technicians. They had body sniffing dogs. They had aerial drones and nothing, nothing to corroborate the prosecution's theory of the murder.

(01:23:35)
Now, I read your jury instructions last night, Your Honor, and it says that to prove the crime of first degree murder, the state must prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Steven is dead, that I was responsible for his death. And that the murder was conducted in a premeditated fashion. So the standard by which we are to judge this case is reasonable doubt. Your Honor, a few days ago, I showed you photographs of evidence that seemingly appeared from nowhere. It was the photos in front of the bathroom where there was no evidence in front of the bathroom in the morning, and by evening there was paper debris in front of it.

(01:24:33)
How does that happen? How does seeming evidence like fall out of the sky? The prosecution never addressed this. They want you not to remember this. Why? Because you should seriously question the quality of the evidence collection in this case and seriously doubt its interpretation. You should also consider that what if that piece of evidence that we talked about was intentionally tampered with? What if the evidence was planted?

(01:25:08)
Today, I gave you several reasons that you should not only doubt the prosecution's theory of the murder but that you should totally disbelieve it, because it doesn't make sense in the physical and it doesn't make sense in time. And just yesterday we saw that Steven Cozzi did not disappear without a trace. But that there were several nonrecurring transactions on two of his credit cards up until at least mid-April. This should make you seriously doubt that Steven Cozzi died on the 21st of March. Reasonable doubts exists in droves in this case. And the reason there is so much doubt is quite simply that the three elements of murder in this case were not proven. My second concluding remark is while I've been defending myself, I made mention of Steven Cozzi as a body several times. Steven Cozzi is fearfully and wonderfully made in the image of Jesus. I sincerely apologize to the Cozzi family for referring to Steven in this manner and not for giving all due dignity to him as a child of God.

Your Honor (01:26:35):

Thank you. Any rebuttal argument by the state?

Nathan Vonderheide (01:26:39):

Yes, Your Honor. I'll go back to the jury instructions and the obligation of the court to consider all of the evidence, an impartial consideration of all the evidence. And the reality is, is that the timing advance data at the dumpster is an estimate. Both experts said there was a stop. Both experts said it was a stop for at least a minute. But what's interesting is what's glossed over in the defendant's argument, and that's when he went back the second day. So if he had not stopped, what's his reasoning for going back the second day?

(01:27:19)
When he talks about the timing data as it relates to his cell phone for his time at 15:01 Belcher on March 21st, 2023. It's just a mischaracterization of the facts. The facts in this case show that the Toyota Tundra shows up at 8:32 in the morning, backs into his space, and then he walks in at 8:34. It's after he walks out at 10:22 is when he turns his phone back on. There's no suggestion that he just pulled up for the court hearing, unrelated to the Blanchard Law Firm, conducted his court hearing, and then placed Steven Cozzi's inside the bed of the truck. It actually goes back to 8:32 when he's lying and waiting until 950 in the morning.

(01:28:03)
There's also a further suggestion by the defendant that Mr. Cozzi, I guess, was still alive after March 21st because there was a purchase for Peacock TV. There's an Amazon Prime Video purchase and there's a Grammarly subscription that was I guess I guess, not auto-recorded that he actively did that. The evidence in this case showed that Mr. Cozzi's wallet, that's what the testimony is. His wallet and his credit cards were all left behind in the Blanchard Law Firm. That his point of sale swipes with all of his credit cards stopped on March 20th of 2023.

(01:28:46)
The alternative suggestion to suggest that he was still alive until April would suggest that the only footprint that he made was updating an editor's app for Grammarly and watching Peacock TV, I guess, or paying for it at least. There's no suggestion that he ate any food in that time period, that he drank any coffee in that time period, that he saw his husband in that time period, that he saw his parents in that time period. So to suggest the defense's argument that there's still some sort of continuation of life, I believe would be an absurd analysis, a forced doubt, as it were, not consistent with the totality of all the evidence in this case and the reasonableness with which you're going to apply all the evidence in this case. As it relates to the paper napkin that he brings up outside of the bathroom, I guess we're in a conspiracy round now we're planning evidence against, I guess it's what the argument is. I think Your Honor is well aware from the analysis the totality of the evidence in this case that that's a proposition that makes no sense. That you are forcing speculation that makes no sense as it relates to the conspiracy. The only conspiracy in this case is this man's own sloppiness against himself. His own sloppiness against himself because he didn't get done in time and had to turn his phone on and engage in that court hearing.

(01:30:10)
The sloppiness against himself because while he purchased an improperly attached tag flipper with the wires hanging everywhere, they worked. They tried them. They worked. He didn't use them. So he brings his phone, has to use it, logs into the court hearing, doesn't use his tag flipper, doesn't utilize his tonneau cover. His sloppiness is one of the main reasons that he got evidence against him. Steven Cozzi's blood in the tailgate of his pickup truck. Again, his sloppiness in his own personal property. Steven Cozzi's DNA in a place where it ought not be.

(01:30:46)
And the suggestion that the napkin just fell from the sky, I would suggest a more reasonable and accurate conclusion is that the napkin, perhaps not in the hallway when the first picture was taken, because napkins move. They're in the bathroom, they're overflowing from the trash can because he scrubbed and cleaned up that crime scene as seen in the luminol. Perhaps it blew out of the bathroom. But you see, that would be an inconvenient theory for the defendant because that would mean that his DNA mixture is inside the bathroom. Even though I would submit to the court that his DNA mixture is inside of the bathroom, consistent with Steven Cozzi's blood and his DNA being smeared on the door when it was open as he was trying to remove the wagon. And Your Honor is well aware from Dr. Jon Thogmartin's testimony that you can lift the wagon. And the best evidence for that is this man's injuries on his arms and on his stomach and on his knee, consistent with him having lifted the wagon into the pickup truck. So when you look at this in the totality of all of the evidence administered in this case, the only reasonable conclusion as to all three elements is that on March 21st, 2023, this man turned his cell phone off at 8:08 in the morning after he sent one more motion to his opposing counsel. He drove to the Blanchard Law Firm, backed his truck in, where guess it's not a 32-inch clearance from the tailgate to the ground. Because he backed in, and there's about a 12-inch bump there in the land, so it's less than that.

(01:32:22)
He goes in, he lies in wait. Steven Cozzi exits his office for the last time, where he's killed by this man violently in the bathroom. Still, only one conclusion, Your Honor is that this man is guilty of first degree premeditated murder. Thank you.

Your Honor (01:32:43):

All right, I'll go back and deliberate and come back with the verdict. One thing that judges are used to, which is after hearings, whether it be a motion to suppress or an immunity hearing or any other motion, is to make numerous findings of fact, evaluate the law, put all of that on the record. When you have a jury trial, that really doesn't happen. The jurors go back and deliberate. Hopefully they get along better than that last Massachusetts case, but they go back and deliberate, and they reach a verdict, and they check the appropriate box, and we're done. They don't come up with a big factual findings situation and an evaluation of the law and state how they apply the law to the facts.

(01:33:47)
So in order to be consistent with that even though I would love to go over all of the facts and the law and apply the law to the facts, I'm going to check the box that I think is appropriate and that's going to be about it. And then after that, we'll take lunch and then we'll see where we're going from here after that. All right, so I don't anticipate me disagreeing with myself that much. So we'll take a 15-minute break and I'll be back, okay?

Court Clerk (01:50:57):

In the State of Florida versus Tomasz Kosowski, case number 2302935CF verdict. The court as a trier of fact, having considered testimony and evidence presented at trial, the exhibits admitted into evidence and the applicable law hereby enters the following verdict. The defendant is guilty of murder in the first degree as charged. This verdict is rendered in open court this 23rd day of September 2026, signed by Honorable Judge Joseph A. Bulone, circuit judge.

Your Honor (01:51:30):

All right. Thank you. All right. State, are you still seeking a sentence of death in this case?

Nathan Vonderheide (01:51:35):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:51:36):

All right. So there's several things that I'm going to have to go over with Mr. Kosowski, and I'm glad we're going to take a lunch so that he'll have some time to think about this because obviously this is important. This whole thing's important, but it's obviously very important decisions to be made at this point. The first decision is if the defendant wants to represent himself for the penalty phase hearing. That's a critical stage. We have to do another Faretta hearing if he wants to do that. So he'll have to make a decision about that.

(01:52:17)
He'll have to make a decision if he still wants to do the penalty phase non-jury. I believe it was August 31 when he did sign a waiver of jury trial for the guilt phase and for the penalty phase. We had two separate ones, but if he wants to change his mind at this point, he can do that. If he still wants to waive a jury trial and go non-jury, I'll just have him sign the same thing that he signed back on August 31. So we want to make sure that he freely and voluntarily waives his right to a jury if that's what he wants to do.

(01:52:56)
And then thirdly, we have to figure out if the defendant wants to present any mitigation at all. The rules of criminal procedure indicate that I need to order a comprehensive PSI if a defendant wants to waive mitigation and is actually asking for the death penalty. Here, it's a little bit different in that the defendant indicated that he didn't want to present any mitigation at all, but he also said that he did not have a death wish. So in an abundance of caution, I did order a comprehensive PSI and that's mandatory if the defendant is seeking his own death and does not want to present any mitigation.

(01:53:51)
And it's discretionary for me to appoint a special counsel, which I did. I appointed John Nohlgren, so he's not the state counsel, he's not the defense counsel, he's the court counsel and he can present any mitigation in the case for the court to consider. So if the defendant wants to present mitigation, I'm not sure that we're really going to need Mr. Nohlgren. We'll figure that out. So do you want some time to think about these issues?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:54:30):

No, Your Honor. I'm prepared to answer all of them right now.

Your Honor (01:54:33):

Okay. All right. Question number one, do you still want to represent yourself?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:54:38):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:54:38):

Okay. Question number two, do you still want to go non-jury?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:54:43):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:54:44):

Okay. And then question number three, do you want to present any mitigation at all?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:54:48):

No, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:54:49):

All right. Are you going to argue for life during closing argument or at any time during the presentation?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:54:59):

No, I plan on making no closing arguments.

Your Honor (01:55:01):

All right. All right. Well, let's do a Faretta hearing and then after that, we'll deal with the other issues and then we'll figure out when we're going to have our penalty phase. The state may not really be adding anything as far as additional evidence.

Nathan Vonderheide (01:55:18):

We have four victim impact statements that we've reviewed and edited that we think would comply with the Florida statutes.

Your Honor (01:55:24):

All right.

Nathan Vonderheide (01:55:26):

That's the addition to the guilt phase of the trial where we think the aggravators have been met there.

Your Honor (01:55:30):

Right. You can argue what you want during the hearing as far as cold, calculated, and premeditated and pecuniary gain and atrocious and cruel. I think those are the ones you alleged, right?

Nathan Vonderheide (01:55:48):

Yes.

Your Honor (01:55:49):

All right. So Mr. Nohlgren, he's been here the whole... There he is. Okay. Are you going to be ready to go this afternoon if we do that or do you need to go tomorrow? I don't know if you're going to call any witnesses. Mr. Nohlgren and the state perhaps can stipulate to certain facts, like he doesn't have any prior record, like he at least has the capacity and the intelligence to help prisoners in the prison. Everyone has an age. I don't know that 47 is really all that significant or not, but that's one that he does have. So if it's easier for the state and for Mr. Nohlgren to stipulate to things, like no prior record, because I don't know how Mr. Nohlgren's going to prove that unless he puts somebody on the stand or he has some sort of records of it.

(01:57:04)
All right. So let's do our Faretta hearing first and then we'll figure out the rest. But we have a lot of issues to deal with here. All right. So this may seem a little repetitive, but the law says we have to do it, so we'll do it.

(01:57:19)
So please raise your right hand. Mr. Kosowski, do you swear or affirm to tell the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:57:26):

I do.

Your Honor (01:57:29):

Okay. All right. And you understand that we're going to have the penalty phase coming up and I have appointed lawyers for you, Ms. McNeil and Mr. Hernandez. And if you want, I can reappoint them and they would represent you for free. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:57:50):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:57:54):

Okay. Now, a lawyer has the experience and knowledge of the entire process, especially Ms. McNeil and Mr. Hernandez. I know that Ms. McNeil has done a number of these. I know that Mr. Hernandez has had maybe hundreds of these because he's been doing these for what, 30 years?

Mr. Hernandez (01:58:15):

48.

Your Honor (01:58:15):

Hmm?

Mr. Hernandez (01:58:15):

49 years.

Your Honor (01:58:21):

49 years. You've been doing death penalty cases for 49 years?

Mr. Hernandez (01:58:24):

No, I'm sorry, Your Honor. 49 practicing probably. My first death penalty trial was 10 years after that, so probably 39 years.

Your Honor (01:58:36):

Okay. All right. So obviously Mr. Hernandez has a lot of experience. Ms. McNeil does as well. So you do understand that they understand how this process works and they have experience as far as legal procedures involved in a death penalty hearing. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:59:00):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:59:06):

Okay. The lawyer can advise you on whether you should testify, the consequences of that decision and what you have a right not to say at the penalty phase. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:59:15):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:59:16):

All right. And they obviously know what the rules of evidence are. Hearsay is actually admissible according to Florida law, but Crawford v. Washington also applies. So that really limits what the state can do. It really doesn't limit what the defense can do. So they understand all that. You may understand it now since I just told you, but do you understand that they know what the rules of evidence are in a death penalty case and you may not?

Tomasz Kosowski (01:59:49):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (01:59:56):

Okay. And a lawyer can help ensure that errors committed during the penalty phase are properly preserved for appellate review by a higher court. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:00:07):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:00:07):

Okay. And it's the same thing as during the trial. If you're incompetent during this hearing, you can't later file a motion for post-conviction relief alleging that you were incompetent because you're representing yourself and not represented by a lawyer. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:00:32):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:00:33):

All right. That if you did have a lawyer and if they represented you incompetently and there was prejudice according to the court, then you could get a whole new hearing. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:00:46):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:00:50):

Okay. If you are convicted, which you are right now, a lawyer's assistance may be useful in preparing for sentencing, ensuring that favorable facts are brought to the attention of the court, ensuring that the court is advised of all legally available, favorable dispositions, and ensuring that the sentence is lawfully imposed. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:01:09):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:01:11):

An attorney's legal knowledge and experience may be useful in filing an appeal and in seeking release on bail during the appeal. I don't think that's going to happen, but I guess it theoretically could. Understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:01:23):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:01:26):

Okay. As it is almost always unwise to represent yourself in court, let me tell you a few of the disadvantages of representing yourself in court. Do you understand that you will not get any special treatment from the court just because you are representing yourself?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:01:39):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:01:39):

Okay. And you understand you're not entitled to a continuance just because you're representing yourself?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:01:44):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:01:46):

You are not required to possess the legal knowledge or skills of an attorney in order to represent yourself. However, you will be required to abide by the rules of criminal law and the rules of courtroom procedure. These laws took lawyers years to learn and abide by. To demonstrate an unwillingness to abide by these rules, I may terminate your self-representation. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:02:07):

Yes, Your Honor.

Your Honor (02:02:12):

Okay. Do you understand that if you are disruptive in the courtroom, that the court can terminate your self-representation and remove you from the courtroom, in which case the trial would continue without your presence?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:02:22):

Yes, your honor.

Your Honor (02:02:27):

All right. And you understand as before that your access to the state attorney is somewhat limited, although we're all going to be in the same courtroom the next couple days, and you do have the tablet. I guess that's what they call it over there at the jail, right? The tablet? So that may not be a huge thing, but still it's easier for a lawyer to talk to the state attorney than it is for yourself. Do you understand that?

Tomasz Kosowski (02:02:52):

Yes, your honor.

‍