SANTA ANA, Calif. (Court TV) — A California doctor accused of poisoning her husband’s tea with drain cleaner scored a win in court when a judge dismissed the charges against her.
This Aug. 4, 2022, booking photo provided by the Irvine Police Department shows Yue Yu, who is accused of poisoning her husband. (Irvine Police Department)
Emily Yu, 48, had pleaded not guilty to felony charges of poisoning and domestic battery after prosecutors said she added Drano drain cleaner to her husband’s drink on three separate occasions.
Yu’s attorneys told Court TV that Judge Patrick Donahue dismissed the charges after finding that the Orange County District Attorney’s office committed violations at a second grand jury presentment in the case.
Among the evidence allegedly withheld from the grand jury was the opinion of an FBI chemist who believed the three samples were “drinkable” and not harmful based on their pH levels. The defense had also argued that the District Attorney’s office erred by dismissing two grand jurors in front of the remaining jurors. Also, Yu’s attorneys said that exculpatory evidence was withheld from the grand jury even after “grand jurors specifically asked about Yu’s defense.”
Yu’s attorney, Scott Simmons, said in a statement that “Judge Donahue’s ruling reflects the justice system at its best — a court carefully reviewing the record and ensuring that the grand jury process worked the way it is supposed to.”
Yu’s husband, Jack Chen, told investigators that he believed his wife was trying to kill him and first became concerned after the couple’s two children were born in 2013 and 2014. In an application for a restraining order, he wrote, “Not only was she very demanding of me that I give her massages — one time when I could not because I was sick, she stepped on my head until I did — and also began hiding money from me.” Chen set up cameras inside the home, which allegedly show his wife pouring drain cleaner into cups.
Yu’s attorneys say that the allegations stem from her divorce from her husband and accuse Chen of orchestrating the allegations “in a deliberate attempt to gain advantage in family court proceedings. The strategy succeeded in its most painful dimension: due to the charges, our client has been separated from her children for years.”
“I have spent four years watching a life I worked hard to build come apart,” Yu said in a statement through her attorney. “I am very grateful that the court looked closely and recognized that the way these charges came about was deeply flawed. The court’s ruling allows me to begin moving forward. My focus now is on my family’s privacy and healing — and on spending meaningful time with my children and nurturing those relationships as we move forward together.”
In a statement to Court TV, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office denied that a failure to present exculpatory evidence was the reason for the dismissal and pledged to move the case forward. “We are refiling this case,” Kimberly Edds, the director of public affairs, said. “We believe in the strength of the evidence in this case and in the professional conduct of our prosecutors. We will continue to litigate this in a court of law as we pursue justice for an individual who was being methodically poisoned by his wife, a licensed medical professional, whose intent was to inflict pain on him.”
Yu, a dermatologist, still possesses an active medical license in California.
