According to Judge Christina Ryba, the Independent candidate’s declaration on the petitions that he lived in New York was a “false statement.”
The court decided that the petitions were invalid as a result. Kennedy said he would reject the judge’s ruling and then seek an appeal.
The decision would result in Kennedy’s legal challenges in his other places of residence, which would also prevent him from seeking public office in New York.
Kennedy disputed the ruling and referred to it as a political attack, pointing out that the judge was a Democrat.
He remarked, “They are attempting to prevent people from having a choice because they are not convinced they can win at the polls.” “We’ll file an appeal, and we’ll succeed.”
The 70-year-old Kennedy said in court that he had lived in New York since he was a little child and that he intended to return there after his wife, the actress Cheryl Hines, finished her career. In order to be closer to his wife, he moved to California in 2014, and he is still there now.
In court, Kennedy claimed to have rented out a bedroom in Katonah, New York, a town located around forty miles north of Manhattan.
The acquaintance from whom he is renting the apartment, Barbara Moss, said in court that she charged him $500 per month. She also mentioned that there was no written lease.
Kennedy also showed that he resides in the state of New York by proving that he practices law there and pays taxes there.
But in a 34-page ruling, Judge Ryba said that “the overwhelming credible evidence offered at trial” supported Kennedy’s New York residence as the only foundation for “political standing.”
“The Court rules that Kennedy’s testimony that he might return to that bedroom to stay with his wife, family, multiple pets, and his belongings to be very improbable, if not preposterous, given the size and appearance of the spare bedroom as shown in the photographs admitted into evidence,” the judge said.
