Starting punter Rafael Mendoza told detectives that his attacker twice tried stabbing him in the chest, including once when he was lying on his back in the parking lot, Evans police investigator George Roosevelt testified.
Mendoza said the attacker stabbed him in his kicking leg with an underhand motion after a blow to the back of his head knocked him to the asphalt, forcing him to push the assailant away by sticking both feet into the man’s abdomen, Roosevelt testified.
Details of the attack, including the name of a man who waited in a nearby vehicle, hadn’t been released because Weld County District Judge Marcelo Kopcow issued a gag order. He lifted that order Friday.
Kevin Aussprung testified that his dorm mate offered to pay him $100 to do him a favor: take care of the car while Cozad took care of “some business” at an apartment complex.
He testified that he kept asking what was going to happen, but eventually reached the point where “I didn’t want to know.” The favor required Aussprung to wear a black hooded sweat shirt, black sweat pants and black shoes, which were provided by Cozad, according to unsealed court documents.
Aussprung told detectives that Cozad wanted to play in the out-of-state game at Portland, Ore., two days before the attack and that he was upset at Mendoza for “messing up his kicking numbers.” He testified that 15 to 20 minutes after arriving at the complex’s dimly lit parking lot, Cozad came running back to the car and said they had to get out of there.
In an affidavit, Aussprung also said that Cozad placed what appeared to be a knife inside of a plastic bag.
No charges have been filed against Aussprung.
Mendoza was ambushed in a dimly lit parking lot at his apartment complex and suffered a 3- to 5-inch deep knife wound in his kicking leg. The attack drew national attention and comparisons to the assault by Tonya Harding’s hit man on Nancy Kerrigan.
Cozad is free on $500,000 bail. If convicted, he could face up to 48 years in prison.
A trial date had not been set. Another hearing to discuss evidence was scheduled for Feb. 6.
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