LOS ANGELES, Aug. 5 – Jurors in the retrial of former Charles Manson follower Leslie Van Houten were ordered Thursday to try again to reach verdicts after reporting they were deadlocked in a three-way split.

Thursday was the 23rd day of deliberations, the last 10 by a reconstituted jury with an alternate replacing an original juror who became ill.

Jury Foreman Bill J. Albee told Superior Judge Edward Hinz Jr. during a mid-afternoon session in open court that the vote was 2-3-7.

On the instructions of Hinz, the foreman did not designate what those votes signified.

However, prosecutor Stephen Kay, after meeting with Hinz and defense attorney Maxwell Keith in the judge’s chambers, told reporters, “The consensus is that the seven is for first-degree murder.”

The other alternative verdicts in the Aug. 10, 1969, slaying of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca are second-degree murder and manslaughter.

In the first trial, Miss Van Houten was convicted of first-degree murder along with Manson and fellow “family” members Susan Atkins and Patricia Krenwinkel.

But Miss Van Houten, now 27, was granted a new trial by the state Court of Appeal based on the fact that her attorney, Ronald Hughes, disappeared in the midst of the original proceedings in 1970.

None of the defendants presented any evidence on their own behalf in the first trial. However, at the retrial, Keith used the diminished capacity defense, arguing that Miss Van Houten could be convicted only of manslaughter since she was under the domination of Manson and the influence of LSD.

Asked by newsmen Thursday why he thought the jury was having difficulty reaching verdicts, prosecutor Kay said:

“The trouble is that we are trying her eight years after the murders and Frontera ( Women’s Prison) did a fairly good job of changing some attitudes she had … so some of the jurors are looking at this young girl and she’s a pretty young girl and they wonder whether they want to send her back to prison for the rest of her life.”

If the verdict is either second-degree murder or manslaughter, it is likely Miss Van Houten would be released in the very near future since she already has been in prison for more than six years and in custody since her December, 1969, arrest.

In addition to the homicide counts in the LaBianca slayings, Miss Van Houten is charged with conspiracy encompassing the killing of five persons at the estate of actress Sharon Tate the previous night.

Questioned about whether he would be satisfied with a hung jury, Keith replied, “Worse things could happen.”

A note from the jury delivered to Hinz shortly after 11 a.m., read:

“The jury has not arrived at a unanimous verdict as to the degree of murder or manslaughter. The jurors have considered and deliberated all of the evidence and have read or listened to all of the court’s instructions.

“Based on the above, they have reached a conclusion and have voted accordingly. They indicated that the conclusions they have reached and the vote they have cast can probably not be changed. The jury asks for advice.”

Hinz asked the jurors individually in open court if they thought further deliberations could result in a verdict.

Seven said they felt the jury possibly could come to agreement while five others indicated they believed the impasse could not be broken.

Albee, in response to a question by Hinz, said the reconstituted jury of seven women and five men has taken only four ballots, the first two on Wednesday.

The jury foreman said the last ballot had been taken at 10:26 a.m. Thursday and was 2-3-7. He reported that the previous vote came at 9:42 a.m. with the breakdown being 3-2-7, a change of one vote.

“What struck the judge and myself,” Kay said, “is that they haven’t taken very many ballots and that they didn’t take any until yesterday (Wednesday ).”

When the alternate juror was seated July 25, Hinz ordered the jurors to start deliberations over again “just as if nothing had been done before.”

By BILL FARR