Olathe ? John E. Robinson Sr. should be put to death for killing two women and stuffing their bodies into barrels on his rural property, a jury recommended Saturday.

The decision makes Robinson the fifth man to receive a death sentence recommendation from a Kansas jury since the state reinstated the death penalty in 1994.

Robinson sat rocking in his chair with his hand on his face before the jury returned. He stood but showed little emotion as the verdict was read, the yellow barrels which entombed two of his victims in front of him.

Robinson, 58, was convicted Tuesday in Johnson County District Court for the murders of Suzette Trouten, 27, of Newport, Mich., and Izabela Lewicka, 21, a former Purdue University student and a Polish immigrant. Both women were killed after being lured to Kansas by Robinson to engage in sadomasochistic sexual relations.

Robinson also was convicted of first-degree murder for the 1985 death of Lisa Stasi, 19, whose body has never been found. Robinson will be sentenced for her death at a later date.

Attorneys in the case remain under a gag order and could not immediately comment.

Trouten’s sister said the family was elated with the verdict.

The announcement of the verdict was delayed five hours after a juror brought a Bible into deliberations.

Jurors had reached a unanimous vote to start the day’s deliberations, although it was not known which way they had voted. After that vote, the juror who had brought the Bible to deliberations discussed what he had gleaned from it the night before.

After jurors were individually asked about the incident, Robinson’s attorneys asked for a mistrial of the penalty phase because of potential influence on the verdict caused by the juror’s comments about the Bible. The motion for mistrial was denied, as was a motion to replace the jurors. The recommendation for death was returned about 30 minutes later.

Judge John Anderson III will formally sentence Robinson in a hearing likely to take place in a few months. The judge could impose a lesser sentence.

Robinson is the first to be convicted of capital murder in Kansas since the state Supreme Court upheld the state’s 1994 law reinstating capital punishment. Four men had been sentenced to die before that 2001 decision. However, justices set aside all four sentences because of flaws in jury instructions.

Robinson is expected to stand trial for three Missouri deaths as early as spring 2003.