Bronx woman says husband of 26 years tried to stab her first and she killed him in self-defense.

Gloria Hernandez of the Bronx spent a week behind bars on Rikers Island for fatally stab­bing her husband of 26 years, a man she says repeatedly abused her physically and emotionally throughout their marriage.

But Hernandez, 55, is now back with her family after a Bronx grand jury on Friday refused to indict her on charges of second-degree murder, first-degree manslaughter and crimi­nal possession of a weapon.

"I'm so very happy that they made the right decision," she said yesterday from a daughter's house in upstate Orange County. "It was self-defense. I'm not a murderer. 1 didn't mean to do it. I loved my husband so much."

The grand jury sided with Hernandez after she and a daughter, Maria Diaz, 37, of Middletown, testified before the panel in State Supreme Court about what led to the May 13 death of Juan Hernandez, 54, said Christopher Renfroe, the Queens attorney repre­senting Gloria Hernandez.

Responding to a 911 call that day around 11:30 p.m., police found Juan Hernandez with two stab wounds in his chest inside the couple's apartment on Gunther Avenue in the bor­ough's Wakefield section. A kitchen knife was found near the body. Gloria Hernandez was outside, wearing a blood-soaked nightgown and suffering from a cut thumb. She passed out and was revived by medical techni­cians at the scene, Renfroe said.

The husband, who was unemployed, and the wife, a driver for a Citibank executive, were both taken to Jacobi Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead on arrival. She was taken into custody the next day and charged with crimes punishable by up to life in prison.

Gloria Hernandez has five grown children from a previous marriage. After her family con­tacted Renfroe, he and Queens private investigator Artie Grix set about making sure prosecutors and the grand jury would know what happened that night — and throughout Hernandez's second marriage.

"Juan had a drug problem and he drank a lot and he regularly beat up Gloria," Renfroe said.

That night, Juan Hernandez, upset that his wife would not give him money for drugs, went after her with. the knife. She hurt her thumb while taking it away from him. Gloria Hernandez stabbed him when he tried to choke her, she and Renfroe said. Diaz testified because she was on the phone with her mother during much of the arguing that night between Juan and Gloria Hernandez.

"Of course, we're happy she's out [of jail]," Diaz said. "But there's no celebration yet. My mother still has all that in her mind."