As 13-year-old Rachel Booth sat with her attorney waiting for her hearing to begin, she frequently wiped away tears with both hands that were cuffed together.

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Soon her case was called yesterday and her slim frame rose and she trudged to the judge's bench, her ankles shackled together.

Occasionally she brushed her auburn locks from her face, looking fearful and childlike as opposed to her neighbors' description of her as precocious and adult looking.

She had spent four nights in the Allegheny County Jail on charges filed Monday that she killed her father in response to what she has described as years of physical and sexual abuse at his hands.

Rachel is charged with firing a shotgun into the face of her sleeping father, Matthew Booth Sr., 34, killing him.

Private funeral arrangements have been made with the Willig Funeral and Cremation Service in McKeesport. No further information was available on his service.

Yesterday, Rachel appeared in Municipal Court, sans the jail uniform. She dressed in jeans and sneakers.

She was transferred yesterday from the Allegheny County Jail to Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic.

The move was made after the girl, through her defense attorney, Patrick Nightingale, waived her right to a preliminary hearing yesterday.

"This is obviously a best-case scenario, short of outright withdrawal of the charges, which is too much to hope for at this point," Mr. Nightingale said yesterday. "I was able to talk to Rachel today and she is very, very relieved."

Following the preliminary hearing before District Judge David Barton in Municipal Court, Mr. Nightingale immediately went to the juvenile division to file applications designed to protect Rachel's rights and interests. Similar action was taken this week by another attorney on behalf of Rachel's 14-year-old brother, Matthew Booth Jr.

Before juvenile court Administrative Judge Kim Berkeley Clark, Mr. Nightingale filed an application to have a representative appointed to serve as Rachel's legal guardian.

"This girl has no home [and no family] to go to for help in this case," Mr. Nightingale told the juvenile court judge.

Judge Clark appointed Jennifer Staley, an attorney with the nonprofit agency KidsVoice, to serve as Rachel's guardian.

The judge appointed attorney Melaine S. Rothey as Rachel's counsel in matters pending in Family Court.

Matthew Jr. is represented in family matters by attorney Bruce H. Gelman.

The children are estranged from their mother, Michelle Fazek, of White Oak, who has custody of their 12-year-old sister.

They also have had problems with their grandmothers, although Matthew Jr. has been living with one of them since Monday.

Mr. Nightingale said that Ms. Fazek honored Rachel's request that she not be present for any of the proceedings.

Alexis Samulski, the county's assistant solicitor acting on behalf of the county's Children, Youth and Families agency, briefly reviewed the dependency petition before yesterday's juvenile court proceeding. She said CYF would have no objection to Rachel's new family arrangements.

Judge Clark said representatives of the Women's Center and Shelter of Greater Pittsburgh are assigned to represent Ms. Fazek's interests.

Rachel and Matthew are scheduled for a dependency hearing at 1:30 p.m. Aug. 29 before Judge Kathryn Hens-Greco in Family Court.

Rachel is scheduled to be formally arraigned on Sept. 9 in the homicide case.

However, Mr. Nightingale filed a petition yesterday seeking a hearing to have juvenile court assume jurisdiction of the homicide case.

First Assistant District Attorney Christopher Connors said his office agrees that the criminal case should be transferred to the juvenile division.

In a related matter, District Attorney Stephen A. Zappala Jr. visited the Booth house yesterday. Investigators who first saw the house Monday had described it as being in deplorable condition, with numerous animals and pets, and littered with feces.

Mr. Zappala said yesterday he would contact the county Health Department about having the house condemned and torn down.

As Rachel left the courtroom yesterday morning she ventured a glance at her friends and neighbors seated in the front row. She burst into tears again as she shuffled with an escort to the prisoners' exit to be transported to the psychiatric hospital in Oakland.

Dr. Christine Martone, director of the county jail's Behavior Clinic, said Thursday that Rachel suffers from a severe mood disorder. The malady leaves the girl angry and was the cause of her using abusive language with psychiatrists who examined her at the jail this week.

It has not been determined whether the treatment she alleges against her father is the cause of her mental illness. The girl has told police and neighbors that her father sexually assaulted her repeatedly since she was 7.