A Pinellas County judge found Tarpon Springs plastic surgeon Tomasz Kosowski guilty of first-degree murder on Wednesday in the death of attorney Steven Cozzi, capping a highly unusual trial in which the 47-year-old surgeon represented himself and waived his right to a jury — putting his fate entirely in the hands of a single judge, in a death-penalty case, according to CNN.

Cozzi, 41, vanished from his Largo law office in March 2023. He had been representing defendants in lawsuits Kosowski filed over disputed payments for medical procedures, and prosecutors say the surgeon developed what they called a "malicious and personal obsession" with the attorney, ultimately planning the killing "methodically and systematically," per the Tampa Bay Times.

Investigators say Cozzi's blood was found in the bathroom of his own law office — where prosecutors argued a "violent event" took place — and again inside Kosowski's truck. Cozzi's body has never been found.

A judge, not a jury, decides

In a move Fox News described as rare and largely unprecedented for a capital case, Kosowski chose to waive both his right to an attorney and his right to a jury, allowing Judge Joseph Bulone to weigh the evidence and reach a verdict alone. Kosowski maintained his innocence throughout and pushed, at points, for courtroom demonstrations of his own theory of events, according to FOX 13 Tampa Bay.

Bulone's guilty finding on Wednesday now sends the case into a penalty phase — one Kosowski has also opted to face without a jury or lawyer. He faces either life in prison without the possibility of parole or a death sentence.

The case has drawn intense local attention throughout the Tampa Bay area both for its grisly details and for Kosowski's unconventional legal strategy, which required Judge Bulone to separately confirm the surgeon understood the risks of representing himself in a trial where his life is on the line. A sentencing date has not yet been set.