Supporters try to free Bergen woman charged in son's death, claiming arrest was 'unjust'

After being accused of abusing and killing her 3-month-old son last March, Grace Yoo Chan has a group of supporters trying to get the Bergen County Prosecutor's Office to release her before the start of her trial.

While her next court date isn't until Dec. 8, Chan's supporters are seeking to give the prosecutor's office a petition with close to 20,000 signatures so she can return home to take care of her other children.

Brian Neary, one of Chan's attorneys, said she is a "victim of a flaw in the new pretrial release law."

"The charge of murder, which we believe is an unjust and unfair characterization of this tragedy presumes that the accused be held in jail prior to trial," Neary said. "Grace should be free with her family to defend herself."

Chan, of River Edge, was arrested and charged with murder and child endangerment after her son was found unresponsive by police following a call they received saying the infant was not breathing.

"The death of a child is every parent’s worst nightmare," said Chan's husband, William, in an email to The Record and NorthJersey.com. "For my family, the nightmare became unimaginably worse when Grace was charged with his murder – all while she was still nursing [the baby's] twin brother, and caring for our 5-year-old daughter."

During the hearing, the prosecutor's office said doctors at Hackensack University Medical Center found a number of injuries on the infant, including severe head trauma, brain bleeds and multiple fractures in his ribs, legs and arms in various stages of healing.

Assistant Prosecutor Suzanne Cevasco said the multiple fractures were signs "indicative of child abuse" at the detention hearing.

In his Change.org petition, Chan's husband said multiple maternal-fetal medicine specialists who oversaw his wife's high-risk pregnancy had recommended they terminate the baby because of the risks.

"When our doctors advised that we terminate [the baby] during Grace’s high-risk pregnancy, Grace and I decided to give our son a chance at life despite the many medical challenges he would face, knowing full well that he may not survive infancy," William Chan said. "[He] was our beautiful and precious son − and Grace did everything a mother could do to help him build his strength and keep him safe from harm."

William Chan described his wife as "the kindest, most generous and most caring person" he had ever met and said she was a fantastic mother who was patient and never gave up on her children.

During her May 13, 2022 detention hearing, Matthew Jeon, one of Chan's attorneys said the same thing during a court hearing, saying the infant had been malnourished in the womb. According to Jeon, the baby was only 3 pounds when he was born and had a vitamin D deficiency that caused rickets disease, which would make his bones brittle and easily susceptible to breaking.

The website created to support Chan said in addition to the vitamin deficiency and rickets, the baby showed evidence of having had seizures, had blood clots, intrauterine growth restriction and required surgery for multiple hernias.

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The site also said medical professionals looked at the infant's medical files and "provided clear explanations" for his "complex medical conditions."

Jeon had argued that just because his client was the last one caring for her son doesn't mean she is the one who caused the injuries. He pointed out that Chan's husband, parents and mother-in-law all helped provide care for the infant, his twin brother and older sister.

Jeon said the December hearing will be for a motion to suppress Chan's statements to the police.

During last year's detention hearing, Cevasco said Chan tried to "explain away" the blunt force trauma to her son's head by saying she hit his head on a cabinet but he had been acting normally before she took him into the basement when he was crying.

Jeon had argued that Chan wasn't trying to explain away injuries during her questioning by the police but to provide possible reasons on how some of those injuries occurred.

William Chan said they have received an outpouring of support from their community and across the state. He also said close to two dozen civic and faith-based organizations have signed onto the petition and are speaking to the impact the family's struggles have had on the wider community.

While Chan awaits trial, William Chan said he is focused on being a parent, working with his wife's attorneys to try ro bring her home and to clear her name.

William Chan said she had to manually pump breast milk for over a year while in jail, which he felt showed her "commitment and dedication as a mother." He said it only stopped when she was transferred to the Hudson County Jail and they didn't accommodate her nursing.

He said Chan was never able to truly grieve the loss of her son and has not been home at a time when her other two children need her the most.

"All young children need their mothers," William Chan said, "and our kids miss Grace's presence and love every single day."

This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: River Edge NJ woman receives support after murder charge