LOS ANGELES, Dec. 10 – Retrial of Leslie Van Houten, a member of the Charles Manson “family,” was assured Thursday when the state Supreme Court refused by one vote to review the reversal of her conviction for murder.

At the same time, the court let stand the conviction of Manson and two other followers, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins, on multiple murder charges in the 1969 Tate-LaBianca slayings.

Dep. Dist. Atty. Stephen R. Kay said that Miss Van Houten, now serving a life sentence at the California Institute for Women in Frontera, definitely will be retried. However, he conceded there is a problem about a missing key witness.

Kay said there is no question the case depends on the testimony of Linda Kasabian, a Manson “family” member who was an admitted accomplice in the multiple murders but turned state’s evidence under a grant of immunity.

Miss Kasabian was known to be in the Middle West within the last six months, but has dropped out of sight, Kay said. He said authorities are desperately searching for her to be a witness in the case.

If she is not found, Kay said, he will ask that a transcript of her testimony be read at the retrial of Miss Van Houten, on a showing that diligent efforts to produce Miss Kasabian in person have failed.

The trial judge — still to be selected — will have full discretion to decide whether that procedure will be permitted.

Kay said the Supreme Court’s formal order denying the prosecution a hearing on the reversal of Miss Van Houten’s conviction is expected to arrive here today.

The case then will be set before Superior Judge Jack E. Goertzen, who presides over the criminal master calendar, for assignment to another judge for retrial. Miss Van Houten will be brought here from Frontera some time next week for that proceeding, Kay said.

Kay said the state attorney general’s office had decided not to appeal the Supreme Court’s denial of a hearing in Miss Van Houten’s case to the U.S. Supreme Court.

Three of the state Supreme Court’s seven justices — Stanley Mosk, William P. Clark Jr. and Frank K. Richardson — were of the opinion that a hearing should be granted to the prosecution. However, it takes four justices’ votes for the court to take over the case.

Attorney Maxwell Keith, who had been appointed to represent Miss Van Houten in the midst of the sensational 1970 trial, said he was “very happy” over the decision. He said he will continue to represent her.

It was the substitution of attorneys in the midst of the trial that led to the reversal of Miss Van Houten’s conviction by the state Court of Appeal last Aug. 13.

She had been represented for most of the 1970 trial by attorney Ronald Hughes, but he disappeared late in the proceedings. Later, Hughes’ body was found in the Sespe area, where he apparently had drowned accidentally.

Keith was appointed by the trial judge, Superior Judge Charles H. Older, to take over Miss Van Houten’s defense. This was after all the evidence in the trial had been presented, but before final arguments to the jury had commenced.

In a 2-1 decision, the Court of Appeal held that a mistrial should have been declared at that point. Without comment, the state Supreme Court declined to disturb that decision.

The appellate court majority had said they were mindful of the strong evidence of Miss Van Houten’s guilt, the notoriety of the case and the indications of her “bad character.”

Nevertheless, they found merit in the argument that denial of a mistrial when the original trial attorney disappeared was reversible error.

Miss Van Houten was convicted only in the murders of Rosemary and Leno LaBianca, who were found stabbed to death in their Waverly Drive home on Aug.10, 1969.

The word “War” was scratched on LaBianca’s stomach, and scrawled in blood on walls and a door were the words “Death to the Pigs,” “Rise,” and “Healter (sic) Skelter.”

On the previous day, a much more ghastly scene had been discovered at the Cielo Drive home of Actress Sharon Tate.

Stabbed and shot to death in a bloody orgy were Miss Tate, Wojiciech Frykowski, Abigail Folger, Thomas John (Jay) Sebring and Steven Earle Parent. The word “Pig” was written in blood on the front door.

Testimony in the trial showed that the murders were carried out under the orders of Manson, the leader of a drug and sex cult, for the purpose of fomenting a race war which Manson characterized as “Helter-Skelter.”

Manson, Miss Krenwinkel and Miss Atkins were convicted on seven counts of murder and one count of conspiracy involving all the slayings.

The Court of Appeal had unanimously upheld their convictions, and a hearing sought by Manson was unanimously denied Thursday by the state Supreme Court. Attorneys for Miss Krenwinkel and Miss Atkins had not joined in the request for a hearing.

Originally, all four defendants had been given the death penalty. However, they were beneficiaries of the state Supreme Court’s 1972 decision invalidating capital punishment and their sentences were reduced to life imprisonment.

Manson’s conviction still could be appealed to the U.S. Supreme Court, and sources close to the case speculated that it would be. However, his attorney, Irving A. Kanarek, could not ve reached immediately for comment.

By GENE BLAKE