The First Amendment protects the right to jump from the Empire State Building with a parachute, a Manhattan judge ruled yesterday.

In an eight-page decision, state Supreme Court Judge Michael Ambrecht dismissed a felony charge of reckless endangerment against a California stuntman, Jeb Corliss, because his conduct, “while dangerous and ill-conceived, does not rise to the level of depraved indifference” and is, in fact, “constitutionally protected freedom of expression.”

Mr. Corliss, 30, was arrested last April as he was about to dive off the Empire State Building, which is 1,453 feet tall. He concealed his parachute inside a “fat suit” to get through the building’s metal detectors, and made it as far as the ledge on the 86th floor’s observation deck before security guards and police handcuffed him to a fence.

After the failed stunt, the Discovery Channel fired him from a show he hosted called “Stunt Junkies. ” Executives said at the time they were “beyond disappointed at his serious lack of judgment and his reckless behavior.”

Mr. Corliss’s lawyer, Mark Heller, said his client had meticulously prepared for the jump by analyzing traffic patterns, wind conditions, and other risks. He has made more than 1,000 jumps in 16 different countries, including from the Petronas Towers in Malaysia, Mr. Heller said.

For Mr. Corliss, BASE jumping, which refers to leaping from bridge, antenna, span, and earth, is a creative act, Mr. Heller said.

“When he jumps off of a building, he moves his body in different directions, flips and turns, and flies through the air with the greatest of ease,” he said. “This is his way of expressing himself.”

When Mr. Corliss was originally indicted on a charge of reckless endangerment in the first degree, a D felony, he faced between three and seven years of imprisonment if convicted. Judge Ambrecht wrote that considering the precautions and preparations Mr. Corliss took, his actions did not constitute the kind of disregard for human life necessary to substantiate the charge.

“It’s a surprising decision, considering the grave risk posed to the public on the streets below, not to mention the police officers and Empire State security personnel who risked their own lives to stop him,” a spokesman for the police department, Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne, said. “What if his chute doesn’t open? He could kill others along with himself. Does the court really want the Empire State and other city landmarks to become landmarks for BASE jumping?”

Mr. Heller called the decision a “landmark case” that may allow anyone to jump from a tall building or structure without facing consequences.