An Orange County Superior Court judge Friday dismissed an indictment against a Mission Viejo dermatologist accused of poisoning her husband — also a physician — by putting Drano into his tea, because prosecutors withheld exculpatory evidence from grand jurors.
The case against Yue “Emily” Yu has been beset by legal issues going back to the beginning of the year, when Orange County Superior Court Judge Patrick Donahue allowed prosecutors to file a new indictment with added charges of attempted poisoning. At the time, Donahue did not make a finding on whether the move limited prosecutors from bringing another indictment if a mistake was made in the way the case was brought before the grand jury.
Defense attorneys Scott Simmons and Dan Wagner argued that prosecutors refused a request from the grand jury to investigate exculpatory evidence.
“We are grateful that the court closely examined the proceedings that produced this charge and recognized that the process by which the indictment was obtained was fundamentally flawed,” Simmons said. “Emily Yu should not have been indicted. From the outset, Emily has maintained that she did nothing wrong and has placed her faith in a fair and impartial legal process. We thank the court for its diligence and ask only that Emily Yu now be allowed to rebuild her life in peace.”
The indictment dismissed on Friday followed one in 2023, which charged her with a felony count of corporal injury and three felony counts of poisoning. The 2026 indictment added new charges of attempted poisoning.
Donahue previously ruled under the prior indictment that prosecutors would have to show injury to the alleged victim, but they would not have to prove injury under the issue of attempted poisoning.
It’s an open question whether prosecutors can file another case against Yu, but Wagner and Simmons said they would immediately move to dismiss it.
A spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Donahue also ruled that prosecutors were dismissing grand jurors, when that is the job of the jury foreperson to ensure the independence of the grand jury, Wagner said.
Grand jurors asked about Yu’s side of the story and were rebuffed, Wagner and Simmons said. Prosecutors are obligated to provide both sides of a case, the attorneys said.
Yu was “relieved” when the indictment was dismissed, her attorneys said.
“She really wants to move on with her life,” Simmons said. “She hasn’t practiced medicine this whole time. It’s really a bummer for her and she hasn’t been able to see her children.”
Yu’s only contact with the children has been Zoom meetings for visitation in the custody case, which is ongoing.
Wagner and Simmons filed a brief when the case was expected to go to trial last year indicating they intended to prove the allegations of poisoning were bogus and were used to help the alleged victim, Dr. Jack Chen, get a leg up in his child custody battle with Yu. Experts for the defense were expected to make the case that it would be impossible for anyone to ingest such a toxic brew of the plumbing chemical and not be immediately overcome by it.
Simmons has said previously that Chen told Yu “to use Drano” to deal with an ant infestation in the house and then told her to put the chemical in lemonade or tea with sugar.
Simmons also argued that medical tests would show that Chen’s maladies are not consistent with drinking Drano, but are more likely from acid reflux.
Chen said in a restraining order he filed against his wife that he “started noticing a chemical taste in my lemonade” and soon after that he “developed symptoms that had me see the doctor, who performed an examination and diagnosed me with two stomach ulcers, gastritis and esophagitis.”
That prompted Chen to set up surveillance video in the kitchen, and he attached videos and photos that he alleged show his wife pouring Drano into his drinks.
Chen also accused Yu of being an abusive parent to their two children.