BOISE, Idaho - A federal jury on Friday deemed Joseph Edward Duncan III eligible for the death penalty for the 2005 kidnapping, torture and murder of a 9-year-old Idaho boy.

The verdict in the horrific case came after a week and a half of gruesome testimony and just two hours of deliberation.

The 9-year-old's father, Steven Groene, said he was pleased with the ruling and looking forward to the case being over. When the hearing resumes next week, jurors must decide whether Duncan should be executed.

Duncan, who has acted as his own attorney, will have the chance to argue instead for life in prison without the possibility of parole. The jury's sentencing recommendation is binding on U.S. District Judge Edward Lodge.

Duncan didn't react to the verdict and opted not to have each juror individually polled to double-check their decision.

Steve Groene declined to discuss the case much, saying a gag order remained in effect, but he did say he would lobby for stronger victims' rights in the future. He objected to spectators at the hearing being permitted to view grotesque videos Duncan made showing the molestation, torture and near-fatal hanging of Groene's son, Dylan.

"My murdered, molested son should have had the same rights as a living victim," Groene said. "I've had too much focus on keeping my family together and protecting my daughter, fighting cancer for the last few years but now that this appears to be close to over, I'm going to work on changing that."

The video footage was brutal; jurors and spectators desperately averted their eyes. Steven Groene said the courtroom should have been closed to everyone but essential court personnel and a representative from the media. Since that didn't happen, he said, the spectators should have been screened to make sure they weren't sex offenders looking to take pleasure from the highly publicized case.

"It is a travesty of justice," Groene said. "That's something that needs to be changed."

It's not yet clear if Groene's daughter, Shasta, will testify in the next phase of the trial. But if she does, the court has ruled that it will be by closed-circuit camera and that the courtroom will be closed to the public, with a transcript of her testimony given to reporters afterward.

Shasta was the sole survivor of Duncan's attack. She was rescued after he took her to a Coeur d'Alene Denny's restaurant on July 2, 2005.

Duncan is representing himself in the case, which means he could question Shasta if she testifies.

The verdict was not surprising after Duncan's closing arguments, in which he told the jurors they didn't yet "have a clue" about the depth of his "heinousness."

Duncan also told the panel that government lawyers helped him victimize the jurors by making them watch and listen to the evidence that was presented during the last two weeks.

"I should actually thank the government for helping me get my eye for an eye by showing you the evidence that you've seen, the videos," Duncan said.

By showing the evidence, the government was "helping me to take away your heart and your innocence," Duncan said. "That's what they have done, and I should thank them but I won't."

Duncan said he wasn't in court because he was caught, but because Shasta didn't judge him for his actions, prompting him to take her home.

The rampage was the culmination of years of planning, he said, and he originally intended to rape and kill until he was killed.

Duncan abducted Dylan and his then-8-year-old sister Shasta in May 2005 after bludgeoning their older brother, mother and mother's boyfriend at the family home. He took the children into the wilderness for several weeks, torturing and sexually abusing them, and ultimately shooting Dylan point-blank in the head. Duncan has pleaded guilty in state court to the killings at the house. Those crimes are not at issue in these proceedings.

In December, Duncan pleaded guilty to 10 federal counts in connection with the crimes against Dylan and Shasta. Three of those counts qualified him for the death penalty, the jury found - kidnapping resulting in the death of a child, sexual exploitation of a child resulting in death and using a firearm during the commission of a crime of violence resulting in death.

Duncan, formerly from Tacoma, Wash., has a long string of arrests and convictions for crimes ranging from car theft to rape and molestation. He is suspected in the slayings of two half-sisters from Seattle in 1996 and is charged with killing a young boy in Riverside County, Calif., in 1997. Duncan lived in Fargo, N.D., before his arrest.