A lawsuit filed today contends that the boy who was shot to death with state Sen. Robert Regola III's pistol did not steal the weapon. Instead, the lawsuit alleges that the 9mm handgun was provided by the senator's teenage son, Bobby.

Mr. Regola, R-Hempfield, and his legal team have always maintained that 14-year-old Louie Farrell stole the pistol from the senator's bedroom the night of July 21, 2006. A jury in criminal court acquitted Mr. Regola of gun and perjury charges in a trial last summer in Greensburg.

J. Douglas Farrell, father of the dead boy, offered a different theory of the case in his lawsuit against Mr. Regola, his wife, Janette, and Bobby Regola.

Mr. Farrell said his son and Bobby Regola, then 16, met in a wooded area behind their neighboring homes to smoke a cigar. Bobby Regola brought the pistol to this meeting, Mr. Farrell said in the suit.

He found his son's body in the woods the next morning. The senator's handgun was nearby. Louie's death was ruled a suicide eight months later, after an inquest.

Mr. Regola, 46, dropped his re-election campaign after his acquittal in criminal court. He said he was the victim of character assassination in media coverage of the case.

In the lawsuit, Mr. Farrell repeats a charge made in the criminal case. He said the senator gave the 9mm pistol to Bobby Regola as a Christmas present in 2003, when the boy was just 14.

Mr. Farrell said this was an act of recklessness that ultimately subjected his son to danger. Mr. Regola, though, said the pistol was his and was never in his son's possession.

On the day he died, Louie Farrell received the keys to the Regolas' home from Mr. Regola. Louie was to feed the dogs while the Regolas were away. Mr. Regola said it was during this period that Louie went through the upstairs of the house and stole the pistol.

The Regola and Farrell families remain next-door neighbors.