Editor's note: Daily News reporter Chris Paschenko is covering the murder trial of Royce Clyde Zeigler who is accused of killing his 2-year-old stepdaughter who became known as Baby Grace. In addition to his regular reports, Paschenko will post a blog entry at the end of the day's court proceedings.

Prosecutors played for jurors Wednesday a videotape of Royce Clyde Zeigler II, who admitted he dumped the body of his 2-year-old stepdaughter into Galveston Bay.

It remains to be seen how the jury interpreted his video, but his statements were unlike those of his wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, who spoke to authorities on camera for at least four hours.

Trenor, 21, said she hit her daughter Riley Ann Sawyers with a belt and dunked her head in cold bath underwater.

A jury deliberated for 105 minutes before finding her guilty Feb. 2 of capital murder. She was sentenced to life without parole. Galveston County Criminal District Attorney Kurt Sistrunk didn’t seek the death penalty in either case.

Zeigler’s only admission to ever striking Riley was a disciplinary swat on the bottom, to let her know she needed to go sit in the corner one day when she was being a typical toddler.

Zeigler’s attorneys, Dee McWilliams, Neal Davis III and Dena Fisher, claim the state has no evidence linking their client to Riley’s death, which was the result of two skull fractures.

Sistrunk’s first witness, Lt. Tommy Hansen of the sheriff’s office, refuted that claim, citing Zeigler’s suicide note.
It is unclear whether the jury will hear or see further evidence of the note or be able to read it.

The existence of Zeigler’s suicide note was revealed in Trenor’s trial. Trenor penned one also, but Zeigler’s note claims Trenor’s innocence, testimony in Trenor’s trial revealed.

What happened to the notes is unclear, but the FBI went through some of the couple’s notebooks and lifted impressions from pages underneath the original documents.

As the parade of evidence progresses over the next two weeks, two big questions remain.

Will Trenor, who was brought by bench warrant from prison to the Galveston County Jail, testify against Zeigler and run the risk of ruining any chance of her appeal?

After Wednesday’s testimony concluded, a television reporter asked McWilliams how many witnesses he would bring to testify. McWilliams answered only by saying, “A boat load.”

What’s the other big unknown about Zeigler’s trial? His presumption of innocence until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt means he doesn’t have to take the stand and that jurors shouldn’t hold his silence against him.

But will he testify in his own defense?