Domestic Violence: I May Be Accused of Elder Abuse

My question involves criminal law for the state of: GeorgiaAbout 3 weeks ago, I inflicted injury to my wife. I am 56, she is 86, an elder. The abuse involved me striking my wife on the back quite hard three times, nothing else. There were no witnesses, we live alone. My wife got very upset, called her son to come over. He did and he and I proceeded to have a two hour conversation about what had happened. He naturally was very upset. My wife decided to leave with them and went to live with them, and has now been with them three weeks, and counting. It looks highly unlikely she will return anytime soon. No police were called to the scene when it happened, and in these three weeks no police have arrested me, no charges have been filed that I know of, and no court summons has been issued. Have received no visit or phone calls from any agencies like Adult Protective Services. Son did go down(not my wife) to local police dept. and made a report of his version of what happened shortly after the event occurred. I say "his version" because during our discussion he greatly disagreed with the validity of "extenuating circumstances" which led up and I feel definitely were the root cause of my committing the crime. He refuses to take any of that into account...only the assault. Bruises were left, which he and his wife saw soon after. Wife has completely forgiven me, and does not wish to file police report or file any charges against me. Son is taking over EVERYTHING and wants me to "pay". I don't know exactly if this would be considered domestic violence, or elder abuse. I am leaning towards elder abuse due my wife's advanced age. I have done a great deal of research on elder abuse and realize it is a very serious crime in almost all states. Usually jail time is the result, but not all the time. Defenses to elder abuse exist, but there appear not to be many a court or Judge would find me of not guilty. I have never done this before. There was no premeditation of the act....it occurred without any thinking. An emotional "knee-jerk" reaction to something she said which caused me enormous stress, and led to the abuse. I understand, to be prosecuted, you have to have done it "willfully and intentionally". I would not say my mindset was that. It was more of an "out of control" feeling for 5 seconds that I greatly regret. By the way, this is an unusual situation. I am not the caregiver of my elderly wife...she is caregiver of me, for the severe chronic illness I have had which leaves me mostly bedridden for the five years we have been married. I realize elder abuse can be charged as either a misdemeanor or a felony. It depends on the severity of the injuries mostly. I am not sure where my actions fall into. Afterward, she claimed she had trouble walking, using a walker, which seems strange since I did not strike her legs. I have been in regular communication with her since the event. She has slowly improved over time. After 2 weeks she was able to walk okay. This action, you just have to believe me, was unintentional...triggered by events the preceding 5 hours which led to an emotional breakdown on my part. I have also read that it is not enough for a prosecutor to prove elder abuse by just showing abuse...there needs to be something to corroborate the alleged abuse(I am not sure what this means) Wife did not visit any doctor after incident to date. Since the police report came from what I told the son, would that be considered "hearsay" evidence? If so, I have read it cannot be admissible in court. Due to the "extenuating extremely stressful circumstances" caused by other persons to me prior to the abusive act, I have read a defense attorney can often use this as a legal defense to explain, excuse or even justify my behavior. I would rather not go into those "circumstances" at this time, unless you feel you need to know them. Another possible defense is that I emotionally did not "intend" to hurt the victim. I have read in elder abuse cases, everything boils down to proof. Now I have admitted ONLY to the son(not to law enforcement or anyone else, other than an attorney) that I committed the abuse. Is that all the prosecution needs, or must there be "more" to secure a conviction? This was an "Isolated incident"...something I did as a result of hitting an emotional "breaking point". But I maintain it was NOT intentional...it was a REACTION TO SOMETHING ELSE(the extenuating severe circumstances which greatly affected me and my judgment and self control). I may have a defense there. But a jury would have to really understand all of this to find me not guilty, or to reduce penalties. It is critical. It also should be mentioned that SEVERAL times I told my wife to leave the house, because I felt I might lose self-control due to what was happening. She did leave and sat in the car, but on her own came in later, and I wanted to tell her to go out or go to a motel for the night, but she refused. This showed I was aware that I might slip up(which I eventually did), however I did give her AMPLE WARNINGS to leave because of what I was feeling. I did not want to put her in harm's way. She realized this I think, and if goes to Court, would agree to remembering me saying this. This could also be another defense, or lessening of charges. So it is a pretty complex case. I am most worried about the son. He is treating me like some kind of a monster, even after three weeks. I know he is upset, I would be too if someone hit my mother. But not to the extent he is acting. I have been alone these three weeks with no help for my illness whatsoever. My wife was my caregiver. For these 3 weeks, I have had to fend for myself without any help at all, and it has been tremendously difficult. Plus, the way the son is talking I may never have my wife back. He says "I am not letting her come back to you until your illness(which plays a huge role in all of this) is cured". I have had this chronic illness now for six years, and it may take a long time to cure or even improve. My wife seems to be going along with everything the son is doing or saying to me. He is a Preacher, but shows no sign of forgiveness. In fact, just the opposite. This may be hard to believe, but he has actually cancelled two of his Church services since the incident for he feels I am a "danger" or "threat". I wanted to come in and deliver a confession and repent and ask God for forgiveness. He has not allowed that. In fact, last time we spoke he said if I show up at the Church, he will have me arrested. I honestly believe the man is irrational and way overreacting to what happened. I have not checked with local law to see if he can actually legally do what he has done and it appears it still is this way. This has hurt my feelings terribly, but he does not seem to care at all. He is my greatest and really only enemy in all of this. My wife, as I said, has totally forgiven me, and does not want any charges filed against me by the state. She has reported nothing to law enforcement. So that basically is my story. A very very sad tragic event which has really cost me. I do wonder why in three weeks no police have arrested me, nor received any court summons. Maybe they believe the case is not strong enough to pursue or something. I am scared to talk to the police. I have been advised by one lawyer I have consulted with not to, without a lawyer. The lawyer said they could be thinking right now about filing charges and it could come at any time. Is this true? Please give me your honest feelings on the case and any advice you might have for me. Thank you.

Domestic Violence: I May Be Accused of Elder Abuse