Before blowing a kiss to the prosecution, Kyle Flack offered a few parting words.



�It�s been fun,� Flack said, as he was handcuffed.



Moments earlier Thursday morning, Franklin County jurors recommended Judge Eric W. Godderz sentence the 30-year-old Ottawa man to the death penalty for the 2013 killings of Kaylie Bailey, 21, and her 18-month-old daughter, Lana, for which he was convicted last week.



Flack also was convicted last week of second degree murder for the killing of Andrew Stout, 30; first degree murder for the killing of Steven White, 31; and criminal possession of a firearm.



Family members of the victims cried Thursday morning in the courtroom, embracing prosecutors Victor Braden, deputy Kansas attorney general, and Stephen Hunting, Franklin County attorney.



Flack�s mother, Tammy McCoy, and step-father, Michael McCoy, held hands and wept in the seats behind their son.



One juror dabbed her eyes with a tissue.



The jurors� decision on the death penalty is not final. Responsibility for sentencing ultimately falls to Judge Godderz, who is expected to take the jury�s recommendation under advisement before making a ruling 9 a.m. May 18 in Franklin County District Court, 301 S. Main St., Ottawa.



Thursday�s sentencing follows a nearly three-week jury trial that began March 7 and delved into the events that led to the discovery of three adult bodies at a rural Ottawa home at 3197 Georgia Road in May 2013. The body of the fourth victim, Lana Bailey, was found days later tucked in a suitcase in an Osage County creek.



Flack�s defense team presented three days of testimony on mitigating factors � such as testimony about the 30-year-old�s unstable upbringing and extensive mental health history � in an effort to win a life sentence rather than the death penalty.



If the prosecution had not sought the death penalty on the capital murder charge in the killings of the Baileys, life imprisonment would have been the presumed sentence by law, the defense said previously.



The prosecution�s threefold grounds for the death penalty included Flack�s 2005 conviction in a previous violent crime, knowingly or purposely killing the Baileys, and killing Kaylie Bailey in a �wicked, shockingly evil and vile manner.�



Jurors agreed two of three aggravating factors � killing mother and child and killing heinously � outweighed Flack�s broken past.



Amelia Arvesen is a Herald staff writer. Email her at aarvesen@ottawaherald.com. Follow her on Twitter at @AmeliaArvesen.