Death Sentence Sought in Jewelry Holdup Slayings

The death penalty will be sought in the trial of Steven Livaditis, who is charged with the murders of three hostages during a 13 1/2-hour siege at a Beverly Hills jewelry shop last June, the district attorney’s office announced Friday.

“There was robbery, some planning in it, a hostage-taking and an intentional killing of the victims,” said Assistant Dist. Atty. Curt Livesay, who was responsible for making the decision.

Livaditis, 22, a Brooklyn-born drifter, appeared in Santa Monica Superior Court briefly Friday, and a tentative March 2 trial date was set by Judge Laurence J. Rittenband. If Livaditis is convicted of first-degree murder with special circumstances in the deaths of the hostages at Van Cleef & Arpels on Rodeo Drive, he would face two possible sentences--death or life in prison without parole.