German law gives judges wide leeway in sentencing. Judge Elke Bosse concluded that Parche posed no further threat and “may not have been fully responsible for his actions.” Parche, who sunk a knife a half inch into Seles’s back, said he only wanted to “hurt her slightly” so that Graf could regain the No. I ranking. The fact that the stalker succeeded in this coldly reasoned plan did not dissuade the judge from letting him go. Prosecutors Will appeal the sentence, but like arguments with judges, such appeals rarely succeed.
