Florida plastic surgeon faces death penalty for murder of lawyer

A Florida plastic surgeon faces the death penalty formurder a lawyer and dump his body to the trash.

The authorities claim that theDr. Tomasz Kosowski, 44, killed attorney Steven Cozzi, of the firmBlanchard Law, in the law firm's bathroom, moments after the two participated in a March 21 conference call about a long-running legal battle over medical billing, the outlet reported.Local 10 News.

According to court documents,Kosovotook the call from a Toyota van outside the office and had supplies to commit the murder, including garbage bags, a syringe with a paralyzing drugand a cart to transport the body outside.

Although Cozzi's body was never found, investigators used cellphone recordings and surveillance video to track Kosowski to a remote area west of Miami, on Tamiami Trail, also known as U.S. Highway 41.

That is where they believe Kosowski threw the body into a container that ended up being emptied by a garbage truck. The driver noticed an unusually "vile" odor at the stop, authorities said.

"Video from the garbage truck shows a large bag falling in a manner incompatible with normal garbage," prosecutors said in a motion asking a judge to hold Kosowski without bail.

The shape of the package and the way it fell appeared to contain a human body, they said.

A police dog trained to detect corpses indicated that there might be a body in the dumpster.

Trash from the route is normally transported to a Collier County landfill, but authorities who searched the property for Cozzi's body said the facility routinely compacts its trash, "making recovery efforts nearly impossible."

This new information came to light ahead of a hearing set for July 17, when Kosowski's attorneys plan to request his release on bail.

In Florida, anyone charged with first-degree murder is generally jailed until trial unless the defense can show a compelling reason that it shouldn't be.

Kosowski pleaded not guilty. The doctor has specialized in breast reconstructive surgery for eight years.

His lawyers maintain that the accusation is weak, that Kosowski does not represent any threat and that he will not try to evade justice. If released, the man plans to remain in his multimillion-dollar oceanfront home in Tarpon Springs.

The law firmBlanchard Law, where the victim worked, had been representing Kosowski's former employer and his co-workers in a lawsuit against them four years ago.

In the lawsuit, Kosowski said he began working for Laufer Institute of Plastic Surgery in 2016, primarily doing breast reconstruction surgery, and alleged that the woman the center assigned to do its insurance billing failed to file claims and lied to her patients, causing which cost him tens of thousands of dollars and resulted in negative reviews of him being posted online.

The defendant left that clinic in 2018 and established his own business.