Greeley – A dangerously obsessed Mitch Cozad used “ninja” tactics to stalk and then attack the starting punter on the University of Northern Colorado football team on Sept. 11, a prosecutor said Tuesday.
Cozad tried to kill Rafael Mendoza “because he was obsessed with being the starting punter, obsessed with being the big man on campus and obsessed with meeting the expectations of his mother,” Weld County District Attorney Ken Buck told jurors.
Buck detailed how Cozad allegedly plotted to kill Mendoza in opening arguments in Cozad’s attempted-first- degree-murder trial. Cozad is accused of stabbing Mendoza in his kicking leg outside of Mendoza’s Evans apartment.
Cozad also faces a second-degree assault charge.
Cozad’s attorney, however, said another “football wannabe” tried to kill Mendoza on Sept. 11. A freshman, Kevin Aussprung, failed to make the UNC soccer team but wanted to try out for the football team as a kicker, said attorney Joseph “Andy” Gavaldon.
Aussprung used Cozad’s car to escape after attacking Mendoza, whom Aussprung didn’t like, Gavaldon said. Aussprung also fits the physical description Mendoza gave police of his attacker, Gavaldon said.
Aussprung has not been charged in the incident.
A seven-man, seven-woman panel – two are alternates – was seated at midafternoon Tuesday after nearly two days of questioning by attorneys on both sides regarding massive pretrial publicity.
“Because of the nature of the case, there will be publicity,” Weld District Judge Marcelo Kopcow told jurors. “You have to disregard that. Your verdict should only be based on what’s presented at trial.”
Shortly after Cozad transferred to UNC last fall, it became apparent he would not get Mendoza’s starting job as punter, Buck told jurors. Cozad, Buck said, “could not accept that fact.”
He began a stalking campaign, even asking Mendoza once for directions to his apartment, Buck said. Four days before the attack, Cozad dressed in all black and jogged past the apartment, Buck said.
Later that same evening, he told his girlfriend that he was upset he wasn’t as successful as he wanted to be and that his mother pushed him too hard, Buck said. He also told his girlfriend that earlier that night he “got to play ninja,” Buck said.
Aussprung accompanied Cozad the night of Sept. 11 when Cozad – again dressed in black – hit Mendoza once in the back of the head and swiped at him twice with a knife, Buck said. He then stabbed Mendoza once in the leg before he drove off, Buck said.
Cozad, Buck said, “had the motive to kill Rafael Mendoza. He also had the plan and the opportunity.”
Testimony will continue today.
Staff writer Monte Whaley can be reached at 720-929-0907 or mwhaley@denverpost.com.
