Prosecutors are playing hardball against a crew of BASE jumpers who broke into and jumped off of the new World Trade Center tower last September.
The daredevils are facing felony burglary raps – and the Manhattan DA’s office isn’t listening to offers for pleas in exchange for lower charges.
“Your office has determined they’re not going to offer a misdemeanor plea?” Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Charles Solomon asked prosecutors Tuesday.
“It’s pretty close to a final decision,” said Assistant District Attorney James Zaleta.
“At least for the three who jumped – that’s not changing.”
James Brady, Marko Markovich and Andrew Rossig are accused of sneaking through a hole in a fence at 1 World Trade Center and plunging from the top of the 1,776-foot-tall tower Sept 30 , 2013.
They were busted Feb. 17, after cops tracked the foursome down through surveillance video that captured the extraordinary leap and their getaway car. After the DA began its investigation, they posted the helmet cam video memorializing the feat on YouTube.
The judge asked Rossig’s defense lawyer Tim Parlatore what kind of relationship he had with the DA’s office.
“Awful,” he replied. “These guys were willing to accept any plea that didn’t involve jail or a felony record.” But prosecutors won’t play ball, he said.
Parlatore claims Rossig, 33, and his co-defendants are being too zealously prosecuted.
There’s a misdemeanor statute that specifically deals with jumping from buildings that was enacted by the city council after Jeb Corliss tried to leap off the Empire State building in 2006.
But the DA has charged Brady, Markovich and Rossig with the far more severe burglary rap arguing they broke an entry to commit the crime of illegally BASE jumping.
The defense has argued that the crime of burglary can’t be committed on top of a building – only within it.
“The only issue here is whether jumping off of a building is a felony or misdemeanor,” said Parlatore. “They should stop thinking about politics and start concentrating on justice. Giving these guys a permanent life-altering felony record is not justice for a crime like this.”
After court, Rossig expressed his frustration with the DA’s draconian position.
“It’s just a waste of taxpayers dollars – mine included,” he griped. “Yes we committed a crime. Let us do some community service, give back and everyone can go on with their lives. And they [DA] can go on doing more important things like catching murderers.”
Lawyers for the daredevil jumpers also asked the judge to compel prosecutors to return property seized in the execution of a search warrant including an Xbox and skydiving rigs.
Authorities seized $35,000 in equipment from the New Jersey business Sussex Skydive where Markovich is an instructor.
The four defendants face raps for burglary, reckless endangerment and BASE jumping.