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, Chris will post a blog entry at the end of the day's court proceedings.

Click here for The Daily News special report: Baby Grace.

Come Thursday, Baby Grace trial spectators should know whether the stepfather accused of killing her will take the stand in his defense.

Royce Clyde Zeigler II, 26, has remained mostly silent, taking notes and briefly speaking with his attorneys during the trial, which so far has included testimony from 31 different witnesses over six days.

Zeigler’s wife, Kimberly Dawn Trenor, 21, didn’t take the stand in her capital murder trial and was convicted Feb. 2 in the death of her daughter Riley Ann Sawyers.

The jury isn’t allowed to hold Zeigler’s silence against him, but it would make sense that they might want to hear from the man accused of such atrocities against a toddler.

Meanwhile, Zeigler’s defense team trotted nine witnesses to the stand Wednesday, including seven whose mental picture of the defendant is one of a gentle giant, a teddy bear, one that is incapable of harming a soul.
Prosecution witnesses painted Zeigler as a calculated liar.

The defense claims Zeigler did something unthinkable in trying to hide, bury and ultimately dumping Sawyers’ body in Galveston Bay.

I can’t help but wonder if the parade of defense witnesses, and their glowing review of his life before Trenor, won favor with the jury.

More Baby Grace trial blogs