Fourteen-year-old Rachel Booth could have gone to trial in juvenile court to try to prove that a lifetime of abuse led her to kill her father last summer with a shotgun blast to the face.

Instead, the Elizabeth Township girl opted for a less-traumatic solution -- a deal that keeps her out of jail.

Rachel was adjudicated delinquent Wednesday on a misdemeanor count of involuntary manslaughter. She may remain under supervision by Allegheny County Juvenile Probation until she is 21. However, if she does well, the case could be expunged from her record in a matter of months.

Defense attorney Patrick Nightingale and Deputy District Attorney Eric Woltshock presented the deal at a routine dependency hearing before Common Pleas Judge Kathryn M. Hens-Greco.

Mr. Nightingale said Rachel was elated at the resolution and relieved she would not go to jail. He said the once-undernourished child has gained weight and her spirits have lifted over the past several months.

"The district attorney's office has been very progressive and enlightened regarding this issue. We're grateful to the DA's office for understanding that even though my client committed a very serious offense, she was also a victim and endured substantial and repeated trauma at the hands of her father," Mr. Nightingale said.

Spokesman Mike Manko said the district attorney's office was not permitted to comment due to the age of the child and the nature of the proceedings.

At the time of her father's shooting, Rachel was a 13-year-old home-schooled student and a baby-sitter in her neighborhood. Whatever her father, Matthew J. Booth, 34, demanded of her she did, running errands or dropping whatever she was doing to answer his call.

An avid hunter, he taught her how to use a shotgun. Their relationship seemed so close that one neighbor had the impression that Rachel was her father's wife.

But neighbors said they also suspected Rachel was being sexually abused by her father.

Suzanne Gruber, who lives across the street from the Booth home in the Boston section of Elizabeth Township, said she could hear Rachel screaming some nights: "No, daddy! No! I'm sorry."

The girl told police and neighbors that her father had raped her repeatedly since she was 7.

Rachel was born Nov. 24, 1993, less than a year after her older brother, Matthew Jr.

Their parents were McKeesport natives.

Michelle Fazek was not yet 20; Mr. Booth, a year older, had joined the Army but washed out after a shoulder injury.

The couple began living together in 1991 on Beale Street in McKeesport. Their relationship was volatile.

Court records show that over the years, Ms. Fazek filed for several protection-from-abuse orders against him, starting in 1997.

He also filed once against her, claiming she abused alcohol and had a mental illness.

They had three children together and were living as a family until 2005, when Ms. Fazek filed a PFA petition against Mr. Booth saying he had threatened her with a shotgun.

The parents agreed to share custody of the three children. The older two would remain with Mr. Booth; the youngest child, Elizabeth, would live with her mother.

Early in the morning of July 30, police said, Rachel took her father's 12-gauge shotgun and shot him in the face while he slept on a downstairs couch.

Police said they found several animals in the house, which was littered with pet feces. At least four dogs, four cats, rabbits and other pets were taken by animal control officers.

The house was later demolished.

Following the shooting, Rachel spent four nights in the Allegheny County Jail before being transferred to Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Oakland.

Judge Kathleen Mulligan, administrative judge in the Family Division, authorized Rachel's commitment for another 20 days of treatment and examination.

Rachel was later placed in a residential facility. Judge Hens-Greco determined that Rachel's brother, Matthew Jr., should live with his paternal grandparents.

Rachel's mother has visited her regularly and attended the dependency hearing at which Rachel's case was resolved.

"As a family, we're doing much better," she said, but said her daughter's "road to recovery is going to be a long one."

She said the incident has had a deep impact on her younger daughter and "she is getting good help" at the facility where she is being treated.

Ms. Gruber, her former neighbor, said she spoke with Rachel by phone a couple of times in recent months and "she seemed a lot more calm."