airdog07
June 10th, 2015, 04:32 PM
Trial begins for BASE jumpers who parachuted down from top of One World Trade Center in 2013 BY Shayna Jacobs (http://www.nydailynews.com/authors?author=Shayna-Jacobs)
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, June 8, 2015, 7:00 PM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251057.1433804008%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) Marko Markovich (center) arrives in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. Makovich, along with buddies Andrew Rossig and James Brady were arrested for parachuting off the Freedom Tower.
A trio of thrill-seekers who jumped from atop the One World Trade Center construction site put glory before public safety (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/wtc-base-trio-leaps-trial-article-1.2250266) — and then flaunted their wrongdoing, prosecutors argued Monday.
“This case is about the defendants' decision to exploit a New York City monument for their own selfish thrill and to turn the Freedom Tower into a crime scene before its doors were even open,” Assistant District Attorney Joseph Giovannetti argued in his opening statement at their trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“They knew it was serious. They knew it was dangerous. But they did it anyway simply because they wanted to,” the prosecutor added.
James Brady, 33, Andrew Rossig, 34, and Marko Markovich, 28, admittedly took the plunge from the 1,776 foot tower around 3 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2013.
Brady, an iron worker at the building site, was the “inside man” who helped get the other two access to the then-unfinished skyscraper, Giovannetti said.
The trio taped their feat and were proud of what they did, the prosecutor said. Rossig, wrote his mother a note saying, “Sorry mom for what it's worth but I had to write some history,” Giovannetti said.
Rossig also had $8000 set aside and a lawyer at the ready in case they got “pinched,” the prosecutor said.
http://static3.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1732586.1395709242%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/freefall25n-7-web.jpg
When they were caught about six months later after a police manhunt, they were charged with burglary, a felony, along with misdemeanor reckless endangerment and unauthorized jumping from a structure - which for the moment is the tallest in the country.
But lawyers for the jumpers say the district attorney trumped up charges to make the case a felony, that that they are all guilty of illegally jumping from a city structure - not the more serious charges.
The fact that they did not plunge from indoors means the element of burglary that requires a crime committed “therein” does not apply, the lawyers say.
And they were not reckless because even though skydiving and BASE jumping are “inherently dangerous” activities, they are pros who were able to control their landing, Rossig's lawyer Tim Parlatore said.
“The evidence in this case will show that every step that could be taken to minimize the danger was taken,” Parlatore told the 12-member jury.
Parlatore, co-counsel Andrew Mancilla, who represents Brady and Joseph Corozzo, Markovich's attorney, invited the panel to convict their clients of the local city law of jumping from a structure.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251056.1433804007%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_400/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) Andrew Rossig (left) had $8,000 set aside and had already contacted a lawyer in case the group was caught pulling off the stunt, according to prosecutors.
“Check the guilty box on that one,” Parlatore said. “He did it and he's willing to accept responsibility.”
“No one was hurt. No one was injured in any way -- not even close,” Mancilla told jurors.
“And that's how they planned it.”
He said the jumping “conditions were perfect and by all accounts this was a perfectly executed jump.”
Corozzo told the panel to “relax” and enjoy the stunning GoPro footage of the jump because it was a “simple case” and their decision would be easy in the end.
“Was the intent to commit the crime inside the building or outside the building? That's what this case is all about.”
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251055.1433804006%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) James Brady (left) was an iron worker at the construction site for the then-unfinished building, which gave the trio access to do the daring — and illegal — jump.
The defendants have said they were willing to cop to misdemeanors but not to felonies, which would significantly impact their lives.
Brady is in a construction union, Rossig is a union carpenter and Markovich is a skydiving instructor.
A Pick-A-Bagel manager was the first witness against the men.
He testified about seeing an unidentified man, later determined to be Rossig, wearing a face mask and hurrying to put away a parachute as he hustled away from his landing spot in the area of Vesey St.
The manager, Mohamed Alzainy, said that he first thought it was a police training drill he had witnessed but then, "the way he was looking behind and hiding was so suspicious."
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
Monday, June 8, 2015, 7:00 PM
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251057.1433804008%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) Marko Markovich (center) arrives in Manhattan Supreme Court on Monday. Makovich, along with buddies Andrew Rossig and James Brady were arrested for parachuting off the Freedom Tower.
A trio of thrill-seekers who jumped from atop the One World Trade Center construction site put glory before public safety (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/nyc-crime/wtc-base-trio-leaps-trial-article-1.2250266) — and then flaunted their wrongdoing, prosecutors argued Monday.
“This case is about the defendants' decision to exploit a New York City monument for their own selfish thrill and to turn the Freedom Tower into a crime scene before its doors were even open,” Assistant District Attorney Joseph Giovannetti argued in his opening statement at their trial in Manhattan Supreme Court.
“They knew it was serious. They knew it was dangerous. But they did it anyway simply because they wanted to,” the prosecutor added.
James Brady, 33, Andrew Rossig, 34, and Marko Markovich, 28, admittedly took the plunge from the 1,776 foot tower around 3 a.m. on Sept. 30, 2013.
Brady, an iron worker at the building site, was the “inside man” who helped get the other two access to the then-unfinished skyscraper, Giovannetti said.
The trio taped their feat and were proud of what they did, the prosecutor said. Rossig, wrote his mother a note saying, “Sorry mom for what it's worth but I had to write some history,” Giovannetti said.
Rossig also had $8000 set aside and a lawyer at the ready in case they got “pinched,” the prosecutor said.
http://static3.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.1732586.1395709242%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/freefall25n-7-web.jpg
When they were caught about six months later after a police manhunt, they were charged with burglary, a felony, along with misdemeanor reckless endangerment and unauthorized jumping from a structure - which for the moment is the tallest in the country.
But lawyers for the jumpers say the district attorney trumped up charges to make the case a felony, that that they are all guilty of illegally jumping from a city structure - not the more serious charges.
The fact that they did not plunge from indoors means the element of burglary that requires a crime committed “therein” does not apply, the lawyers say.
And they were not reckless because even though skydiving and BASE jumping are “inherently dangerous” activities, they are pros who were able to control their landing, Rossig's lawyer Tim Parlatore said.
“The evidence in this case will show that every step that could be taken to minimize the danger was taken,” Parlatore told the 12-member jury.
Parlatore, co-counsel Andrew Mancilla, who represents Brady and Joseph Corozzo, Markovich's attorney, invited the panel to convict their clients of the local city law of jumping from a structure.
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251056.1433804007%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_400/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) Andrew Rossig (left) had $8,000 set aside and had already contacted a lawyer in case the group was caught pulling off the stunt, according to prosecutors.
“Check the guilty box on that one,” Parlatore said. “He did it and he's willing to accept responsibility.”
“No one was hurt. No one was injured in any way -- not even close,” Mancilla told jurors.
“And that's how they planned it.”
He said the jumping “conditions were perfect and by all accounts this was a perfectly executed jump.”
Corozzo told the panel to “relax” and enjoy the stunning GoPro footage of the jump because it was a “simple case” and their decision would be easy in the end.
“Was the intent to commit the crime inside the building or outside the building? That's what this case is all about.”
http://assets.nydailynews.com/polopoly_fs/1.2251055.1433804006%21/img/httpImage/image.jpg_gen/derivatives/article_635/jumpers.jpg
Jefferson Siegel/New York Daily News (http://www.nydailynews.com/photos/dn-photographers/photographer?author=Jefferson-Siegel) James Brady (left) was an iron worker at the construction site for the then-unfinished building, which gave the trio access to do the daring — and illegal — jump.
The defendants have said they were willing to cop to misdemeanors but not to felonies, which would significantly impact their lives.
Brady is in a construction union, Rossig is a union carpenter and Markovich is a skydiving instructor.
A Pick-A-Bagel manager was the first witness against the men.
He testified about seeing an unidentified man, later determined to be Rossig, wearing a face mask and hurrying to put away a parachute as he hustled away from his landing spot in the area of Vesey St.
The manager, Mohamed Alzainy, said that he first thought it was a police training drill he had witnessed but then, "the way he was looking behind and hiding was so suspicious."