LOS ANGELES, Jul. 23 – Grim-faced jurors in the retrial of Leslie Van Houten filed back into court Friday in the midst of their 12th day of deliberations to ask questions about the concept of diminished mental capacity.

“I can’t help but say that I am slightly encouraged,” her attorney, Maxwell Keith, said after the five questions were submitted to Superior Judge Edward Hinz Jr. by jury foreman Bill Albee.

However, prosecutor Stephen Kay said he was not discouraged by the questions, nor the length of deliberations thus far, saying, “All this shows is that they are trying to find answers to legal questions that are hard to understand even for attorneys who deal with the law all the time.”

The former Charles Manson follower’s defense is based on the claim that her mental capacity was so diminished by Manson’s domination and the use of LSD that she could not “meaningfully” premeditate murder.

The jurors wanted to know Friday if the theory of diminished capacity should be considered on all three counts lodged against the 27-year-old defendant.

She is charged with two counts of murder for the Aug, 10. 1969, slayings of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca, and a single count of conspiracy that encompasses the slayings of actress Sharon Tate and four others the previous night.

By BILL FARR