Rachel Booth, the 13-year-old girl charged as an adult with killing her father, will be moved today from the Allegheny County Jail to be involuntarily committed to Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

From there, she will be transferred to Shuman Juvenile Detention Center on an order signed yesterday by Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey A. Manning.

Everyone involved with the case has supported the effort to get her out of jail and its environment of adult criminal suspects. No one spoke in opposition to having her case transferred to the juvenile division after today's preliminary hearing.

The girl has been housed in a medical wing of the jail, away from the general population at the facility.

The homicide charge was filed Monday after neighbors reported a gunshot and screams at the Booths' Elizabeth Township home. Police found Rachel and her brother hysterical and crying, and their father, Matthew Booth Sr., 34, dead of a shotgun wound of the face.

He had been killed while he slept in the family's living room.

During police questioning, Rachel told a neighbor and confidant who had accompanied her to the police station that she shot her father because he beat her and her 14-year-old brother incessantly, and that he had sexually assaulted her from the time she was 7.

"Transferring the case to juvenile court is something [District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr.] is interested in doing and investigating," Deputy District Attorney Mark V. Tranquilli said after yesterday's proceedings.

"She's a victim. Indications from our investigations are that she has some abuse issues. The exact length and duration of those is uncertain at this time. They haven't all been confirmed," Mr. Tranquilli said, referring to Rachel's claims that she had been physically and sexually assaulted over the past six years by her father.

While moving the girl from the adult jail atmosphere is a goal, Mr. Tranquilli said, his office had not determined whether it would oppose transferring her case to juvenile court.

Defense attorney Patrick Nightingale said he will file a petition after today's hearing to seek another hearing in Common Pleas Court to have his client certified as a juvenile for prosecution.

He said there is a "very strong possibility" that her right to a preliminary hearing could be waived because there is virtually no way to argue that a homicide was committed and that his client made statements that she did it. That is all prosecutors would have to show at the preliminary hearing.

Expediting that hearing, however, makes it possible to take other steps toward having her treated as a juvenile instead of an adult in court.

In Common Pleas Court, if convicted of murder, Rachel could be sentenced from 40 years to life in prison. In the juvenile system, she could be placed in a secure facility up to age 21, or she could get probation.

The significant advantage of avoiding an adult trial, Mr. Tranquilli said, is that Rachel would receive "age appropriate" treatment in the juvenile system.

Since her father had been her only legal guardian, Mr. Nightingale said he also will recommend to the courts that attorney Melaine S. Rothey be appointed as the girl's legal guardian.

The children's mother, Michelle Fazek of White Oak, lost custody of the children about two years ago in a court battle with their father, Mr. Booth. Ms. Fazek still has custody of a third child, a 12-year-old daughter.

At yesterday's hearing Judge Manning hesitated before ordering Rachel moved from the jail to Shuman Center. He questioned whether such an order would stand under Act 33, Pennsylvania's juvenile crime law. Under the mandate children under 18 charged with homicide and several other violent offenses can be prosecuted only as adults, at least initially. Pennsylvania law also mandates that suspects in homicides must be held without bond pending a hearing.

"It seems everybody knows, but me. You even knew what I was going to do," Judge Manning said of reports from all sides that Rachel would be moved to Shuman. "But," he said, "I might not be allowed to do that under Act 33. I'm willing to do it, but the law says no."

He said the obstacle could be overcome if there were a petition to declare her a delinquent dependent.

Dr. Christine Martone, director of the county jail's Behavior Clinic, testified yesterday that Rachel suffers from a mood disorder, even though she understands the charges against her.

She said Rachel has poor impulse control, becoming angry and verbally abusive to Dr. Martone and at least one other psychiatrist during examinations this week.

Dr. Martone recommended that the girl continue in custody, but at a treatment facility such as Western Psych in Oakland.

The involuntary commitment means authorities can hold her there for 72 hours, a term that can be extended for 20 days if needed.

The commitment will not begin until after today's preliminary hearing. After she is ordered to stand trial, which is expected, other proceedings can begin to have attorney Rothey assigned as her legal guardian and petitions filed to have her prosecuted in juvenile court.

In addition to the defense attorney, prosecutor, jail psychiatrists and others working on Rachel's behalf, Judge Donna Jo McDaniel, the administrative judge in the criminal division, sent a letter in support of the effort.

Attorney J. Richard Narvin, chief counsel in the county's Office of Conflict Counsel which is overseen by Judge McDaniel, said the judge agrees that Rachel should be treated as a juvenile offender.

Mr. Nightingale said he will try to show that his young client was not unlike a battered wife who, under threat of death or serious bodily injury, can claim the killing was justifiable.