MIAMI -- A civil trial is underway in the case of a 12-year-old Miami boy electrocuted at a bus stop shelter six years ago.

The family blames Jorge Luis Cabrera's death on a poorly wired bus shelter. The company that wired the bus shelter, Eller Media, blames lightning for the boy's death.

Ervin Gonzales, attorney for Cabrera's father, said, "The botched job turned the bus shelter into a death trap."

The shelter was wired by Victor Garcia, an unlicensed electrician hired by Eller Media. Garcia and Eller Media were acquitted of manslaughter charges in an earlier trial.

Garcia was not required to testify in the criminal case, but he can't claim his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination in the civil suit filed by the victim's father. Jorge Cabrera Sr. He is expected to testify Tuesday.

Eller Media attorney Ron Cabaniss said that it was lightning and not poor wiring that killed the boy.

"Let me be clear. It (the wiring) doesn't have one thing to do with what caused Jorge Cabrera's death," Cabaniss said.

A national lightning detection service reported a lightning strike in the area of the bus stop at about the same time the boy was killed.

Cabrera's death spotlighted a county program that allowed shelters to be installed and electrified without proper building permits and inspections.

Cabrera died the night of Oct. 12, 1998, after a family dispute over his doing his homework. Investigators said that there were no eyewitnesses.

His body was found at the bus stop the next morning.