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WTC jumpers’ lawyer skydives for case research

This lawyer really goes the extra mile for his clients — in this case, nearly three miles airborne!

Andrew Mancilla, a lawyer for the three parachutists charged in a death-defying plunge from the World Trade Center tower — leaped from a plane with the thrill-seekers Saturday as research for their case.

“I would never do this if I didn’t think it would help my clients,” said Mancilla, 29, shortly before he made the terrifying 14,000-foot jump from a Cessna Caravan over Sussex, NJ.

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Lawyer Andrew Mancilla (bottom) and defendant Marko Markovich (top) take a plunge skydiving at the Sussex County Airport on July 26.
Lawyer Andrew Mancilla (bottom) and defendant Marko Markovich (top) take a plunge skydiving at the Sussex County Airport on July 26.Andrew Rossig
Jim Brady, Andrew Mancilla, Marko Markovich and Andrew RossigChristopher Sadowski
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Andrew Mancilla and Marko Markovich prepare to jump while Jim Brady watches on.
Andrew Mancilla and Marko Markovich prepare to jump while Jim Brady watches.Andrew Rossig
Andrew Rossig
Andrew Rossig
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Andrew Rossig
Andrew Rossig
The group shares a hug after hitting solid ground.
The group shares a hug after hitting solid ground.Andrew Rossig
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Andrew Rossig
Christopher Sadowski
Christopher Sadowski
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The trio of WTC BASE jumpers in Supreme Court. (Left to right: Andrew Rossig, Marko Markovich, James Brady and Kyle Hartwell).
The WTC BASE jumpers in Supreme Court: Andrew Rossig (from left), Marko Markovich, James Brady and Kyle HartwellSteven Hirsch
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His clients — Andrew Rossig, 33, Marko Markovich, 27, and James Brady, 32 — are accused of sneaking through a hole in a fence at 1 World Trade Center and jumping from the top of the nation’s tallest building Sept. 30.

They face felony burglary, misdemeanor reckless endangerment and illegal BASE jumping charges.

“I would never do this if I didn’t think it would help my clients.”

 - Andrew Mancilla, lawyer

On the count of three, the nervous young lawyer leaped out the plane’s door, strapped to Markovich for a tandem dive.

“That was amazing!” shouted the grinning counselor as he landed on a large lawn.

“This experience learning what my clients do and how they developed into experienced jumpers is what we want to show the judge,” he said.

Skydive Sussex co-owner Curt Kellinger, a decorated 24-year veteran of the Port Authority’s Emergency Service Unit, was in the World Trade Center when it went down and lost many of his closest friends and colleagues.

“These guys are highly skilled,” he said of the trio, bristling at the accusation they endangered others’ lives with their WTC jump.

“Would you lock Mario Andretti up for speeding up the West Side Highway? Is that reckless endangerment?” he asked.

Prosecutors are playing hardball with the trio, refusing to consider plea deals to anything less than a felony.