Hughes reentered the courtroom.
The judge is bringing the jury back to begin closing arguments.
The jury has been seated
State begins closing arguments
The state says this is a little bit of a unique case because it's not common for the defendant to explain what he did, and so the state explains that the closing arguments may be different.
The state tells the jury that Zach Hughes is "an admitted cold blooded killer.”
The state thanked the jury for their service. Then went on explaining to the jury that they will make their decision based on the rules from the judge.
The state says they called about 32 witnesses, and that the evidence amounts to about four terabytes of information.
The state is explaining the charges starting with harassment. The state is breaking down the difference between the harassment charges and the providing the definitions of the charges to the jurors. The state then moved on to explain the burglary charge. The state then moved on to explain the murder charge.
The state mentions malice and expressed malice to the jury. The state told the jury that they will be hearing the term malice this afternoon in the judge's instructions as well. The state provides the definition of malice.
The state says, "John Mello was in a nasty custody battle with Christina Parcell" and says that Hughes didn't know Parcell, or meet her in the year leading up to her murder. The state says that everything Hughes knows about Parcell was told to him by Mello or was certain evidence shown to Hughes. The state says that the tide changed for Mello in April 2021 when he took the daughter he shared with Parcell out of the country.
The state says that the daughter of Mello and Parcell did not know Hughes. The state says Hughes had limited interaction with the girl.
The state is going over WhatsApp messages between Mello and Hughes. The state says Hughes deleted attachments on messages in October. The state says Hughes put several pieces together including a cover letter claiming Christina Parcell was engaging in prostitution. The state says that Hughes sent out the mailers to embarrass Parcell.
The state says that South Carolina does not have a revenge
charge, but instead there is a harassment charge. The state says Zach Hughes put a lot of work into the envelopes for someone who he never talked to and didn't know. The state calls Mello a liar.
The state says that Mello and Hughes were trying to harm Parcell because Mello had a custody problem and the only way to solve it was murder.
The state says that while they believe a lot of what Hughes said was true, that a lot of it was narcissistic junk. The state claims Hughes is trying to portray himself as a hero. The state calls Hughes a pathological killer.
The state tells the jury that the defense wants to call the morality of Parcell into question in this case as a means of justifying the murder. The state says people cannot break into houses and references vigilante justice. The state says that these are all allegations that Mello made against Parcell.
FOX Carolina News will be in the courtroom for the duration of the trial and will provide live updates here.
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