NY prosecutors can charge stuntman for Empire jump

NEW YORK (Reuters) - An individual is not entitled to parachute off New York City landmarks, including the Empire State Building, no matter how extensive his training, a New York appeals court ruled on Tuesday.

The ruling reversed a 2007 decision, which said that stuntman and former Discovery Channel host Jebb Corliss, 31, did not put people at risk when attempting to parachute from the Empire State Building's 86th floor observatory floor in 2006.

In overturning that decision, the four-judge panel ruled that an accidental misstep or a faulty parachute could have put bystanders and security professionals at risk.

"Even a properly functioning parachute that landed a jumper safely might cause a variety of accidents," the court ruled.

The Manhattan District Attorney's office is now free to pursue its charge of reckless endangerment, which carries a sentence of up to one year in prison.

Mark Jay Heller, a lawyer for Corliss, said he planned to appeal the decision because it is up to lawmakers, and not judges, to determine if Corliss' conduct should be made illegal.

"We believe that Jebb Corliss was exercising his constitutional right of free expression by free form flying through the air," he said.

In April 2006, Corliss -- who has made successful leaps from the Eiffel Tower, the Golden Gate Bridge and the Petronas Towers in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia -- tried to scale a 10-foot (3-metre) security fence in order to jump off the skyscraper.

His bid was thwarted when police and security officers pulled the him back, shackled him to the security rail and arrested him. One officer was seriously injured in the scuffle.