GREENVILLE, S.C. (Court TV) — Prosecutors are asking a judge to dismiss a convicted killer’s request for a new trial, arguing that “new evidence” cited in his motion isn’t new — or relevant.
Zachary Hughes testifies in his defense Wednesday, Feb. 19, 2025. (Court TV)
Zachary Hughes, 34, is currently serving a life sentence after he was convicted of murder, criminal conspiracy, harassment, burglary and weapons charges in the death of Christina Parcell, who was stabbed more than 30 times in her home on Oct. 13, 2021.
Hughes, a Juilliard-trained concert pianist, was linked to the victim through his friend, John Mello. Prosecutors said at Hughes’ trial that Mello, who was involved in a custody battle with the victim over their shared daughter, told the defendant that Parcell was sexually abusing the child.
At his trial in February 2025, Hughes took the stand and admitted to plotting the victim’s death. He testified that he brought a gun, hidden by a gift box and roses, along with a knife, to Parcell’s home. Hughes also said he chose to attack when Parcell would be alone because her daughter was in school. Hughes described threatening Parcell with the gun, but said that he used the knife to kill her because he feared the gun would make too much noise and alert the neighbors.
After Hughes’ trial, prosecutors filed charges against Parcell’s fiance, Bradly Post, accusing him of possessing child sexual abuse material. Post pleaded guilty and acknowledged that the materials portrayed both Parcell and her minor daughter. Hughes’ appellate attorney argued that Post’s guilty plea is “new evidence” that supports the defense’s allegations that the child was being victimized.
In a newly filed response asking a judge to dismiss Hughes’ motion, prosecutors said that none of the evidence was new, and that Post’s conviction did not change the facts of Hughes’ case. “Though she appears in the exploitation material with her minor daughter (as acknowledged at Post’s guilty plea), as of Defendant’s trial, there was and as of today is no way to legally substantiate any charge that Victim herself was guilty of child exploitation or the production of CSAM,” prosecutors wrote. “There was no way to prove or disprove that Victim was an active and willing participant or that she was doing so under duress. Defendant reads too much into the statements made at Post’s guilty plea.”
Prosecutors also wrote that because Hughes specifically knew that Parcell’s daughter was at school, not home, when he planned to kill her, he could not argue that he was acting in the daughter’s defense. “Because such evidence is not relevant and could not support any legally viable defense, it is also not material,” prosecutors said. “It does not go to guilt, and it certainly does not go to innocence.”
Online prison records indicate Hughes is being held at the Lieber Correctional Institution, a maximum-security prison in South Carolina.
