Charges dismissed against California dermatologist accused of poisoning husband with liquid drain cleaner

By Chris Boyette, CNN

(CNN) — A California judge dismissed charges against a dermatologist accused of poisoning her husband with liquid drain cleaner, ruling that the Orange County District Attorney’s Office had withheld evidence from the grand jury that indicted her.

According to a news release from her attorney, Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue ruled on Friday that prosecutors had not presented jurors with available exculpatory evidence, and “if the grand jury had been properly informed of the evidence that was withheld, there was a reasonable probability they would not have found probable cause to indict.”

The dermatologist, Yue “Emily” Yu, was accused of putting liquid drain cleaner in her husband’s drink. The dismissal is a procedural ruling, not a finding of innocence.

Prosecutors said they plan to file charges again. Yu has maintained her innocence, and her attorney, Scott Simmons, has said she did nothing wrong and her husband fabricated the allegations to gain an advantage in their divorce.

The district attorney’s office disputed the basis for the ruling, saying the defense had never turned the evidence over to prosecutors. Charges against Yu have been dropped once before.

“We believe in the strength of the evidence in this case, and in the professional conduct of our prosecutors,” Kimberly Edds, director of public affairs for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, said in a statement. “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.”

Defense attorney Simmons praised the dismissal.

“We are proud to have stood by her through this, and we are grateful to Judge Donahue for his thorough and principled analysis,” Simmons said in a statement. “Dr. Yu has maintained her innocence from the beginning. Now she can begin to reclaim what matters most — her family, her patients, and her life.”

Yu also issued a statement through her attorney.

“I have spent four years watching a life I worked hard to build come apart. These years have taken an immense toll — on me, on the people I love, and on the work I have devoted my life to,” Yu said. “But 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.”

Yu’s license to practice medicine in California remains active, according to the Medical Board of California.

Adulterated lemonade caught on camera

Yu was arrested in 2022 and ultimately charged with three felony counts of poisoning, three felony counts of attempted poisoning and one felony count of corporal injury on a spouse or cohabitant, according to court documents. She pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Her husband, radiologist Jack Chen, has said he unknowingly drank lemonade his then-wife had laced with drain cleaner.

“I started noticing a chemical taste in my lemonade. Eventually, I developed symptoms that had me see the doctor, who performed an examination and diagnosed me with two stomach ulcers, gastritis, and esophagitis,” Chen said in court documents filed as part of his divorce, restraining order and custody case involving their two children.

After noticing the strange taste, Chen installed cameras in the kitchen to try to determine why his drink tasted strange, the district attorney’s office said.

According to court documents, Chen has videos of three separate occasions of Yu “pouring Drano [sic] taken from under our kitchen sink and pouring it into my lemonade.”

In one of the videos, Chen said his hot lemonade was covered with plastic wrap. He said the video then shows Yu “taking the Drano [sic] from under the sink, removing the covering to pour the Drano [sic], and then replacing the cellophane and putting the Drano [sic] back.”

Chen collected samples of the beverage and turned them over to the Irvine Police Department, according to the district attorney’s office. “The samples were later turned over to the FBI for testing, which confirmed the substance was consistent with liquid drain cleaner,” the office said.

Defense says accusations stem from high-stakes divorce

Simmons previously said the events surrounding the indictment took place in the context of a troubled marriage and a high-stakes divorce case.

“He’s falsely claiming that she’s trying to poison him,” Simmons said. “Instead of calling 911, he calls a divorce lawyer.”

Simmons said Chen never went to the emergency room for treatment and that the medical evidence was inconsistent with him having consumed drain cleaner. He said the family had an ant problem in the kitchen and commonly used Drano mixed with lemonade to bait and kill the ants.

According to Simmons, the judge cited several reasons for the dismissal, including the prosecution’s failure to present the second grand jury with an FBI chemist’s opinion that three samples of Chen’s beverage were “drinkable” and not harmful based on their pH levels.

Steven Hittelman, Chen’s divorce attorney, said his client will continue to cooperate with the district attorney’s office and, in his words, “protect his children and himself through the Family Law court.”

The case has been dismissed once before. In January, prosecutors moved to dismiss the charges so they could conduct further investigation and after a key witness was unable to appear for trial. When the office refiled, prosecutors added attempted poisoning counts and brought the case before a second grand jury.

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