FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (AP) - The federal trial has started for a family charged with treating a Haitian teenage girl like a "slave."

Prosecutors say the Miami family smuggled the girl into the country at age 14. They say her life consisted of 15-hour work days as a servant, no schooling and beatings.

Defense attorneys say the family was just trying to give the girl a better life in the U.S.

Prosecutors say the girl was a so-called "restavek," (REST'-ah-veck) who are hidden as slaves within the Haitian immigrant community.

Four relatives are charged with human trafficking and forced labor.

The jury was picked Monday and opening statements are to begin later in the day.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)