NEW YORK (AP) -- A state appeals court has reinstated an indictment against a former television host who tried to parachute off the Empire State Building.
The Supreme Court's Appellate Division voted 4-0 to revive a reckless-endangerment charge against Jeb Corliss, former host of the Discovery Channel's ``Stunt Junkies'' show, but lowered the felony charge to its misdemeanor version.
The appeals court said Manhattan prosecutors had incorrectly presented the case to the grand jury to obtain the felony indictment but they would be allowed to go before the panel again and correctly try for the more serious charge.
If convicted of felony reckless endangerment, Corliss would face up to seven years in prison. The misdemeanor charge is punishable by up to a year in jail.
Corliss was arrested at the 102-story landmark on April 27, 2006, when police and security guards seized him on the 86th-floor observation deck as he prepared to jump. He had entered the building while wearing a fat suit with a parachute hidden underneath.
In January 2007, state Supreme Court Justice Michael Ambrecht dismissed the indictment against Corliss, 31, saying his actions did not rise to the level of first-degree reckless endangerment, the only crime the indictment charged.
Ambrecht said Corliss, of Malibu, Calif., is an experienced BASE (building, antenna, span, earth) jumper who had studied wind and traffic patterns to prepare for his leap and ``took steps to avert risk to others.'' He dismissed the indictment.
The appeals judges, in an opinion written by Justice David Saxe, agreed Ambrecht should have tossed the felony charge but said there was enough evidence for a misdemeanor charge, which prosecutors asked for. They said Ambrecht should have ordered the charge lowered to second-degree reckless endangerment.
The judges also rejected Ambrecht's finding ``that the very success of the security guards in restraining defendant made it physically impossible for defendant to have put the people below at risk.''
Saxe wrote for the court that 30 to 40 mph wind gusts, a misstep, a dropped object carried by or attached to Corliss or a faulty or even a properly functioning parachute ``might cause a variety of accidents'' and risk of injury to others.
Corliss' lawyer, Mark Heller, said he was considering an appeal to the state's highest court.
Heller had argued that there was no law in New York state against jumping off a building. He also maintained that this kind jumping was constitutionally protected expression.
The Manhattan district attorney's office had no comment.
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