PONTIAC, Mich. -- There were emotional words from a judge Tuesday at the sentencing of a Southfield woman charged in the death of her own mother.

Stephanie Cooper had previously pleaded no contest to involuntary manslaughter in the death of her 63-year-old mother, Agnes.

Agnes Cooper suffered from multiple sclerosis and died Nov. 6, 2007. She was found lying in her own waste in a maggot-infested bed inside a home she shared with her daughter and 9-year-old granddaughter.

Investigators went to the home at 24005 Edinburgh Place in Southfield, two days after her death and found her "severely neglected."

Oakland County Circuit Court judge Nanci Grant expressed frustration and shock that Department of Human Services workers had four separate contacts but that the outcome still resulted in Anges Cooper’s death.

“Next to you should be the Department of Human Services, the DHS. I do not know what they do,” Grant said. “We don’t let people die on their own."

Stephanie Cooper said she tried several times to arrange care for her mother through the DHS, but that she was placed on a waiting list, and that help never came.

“When the Southfield police were finally called in, and arrested you, and you were walked out in hand cuffs to a police car, someone from DHS should have been walking next to you,” Grant said.

Stephanie Cooper did not get the recommended five years in jail. She was given five years of probation.

Conditions of her probation require her to keep a job, submit to regular drug and alcohol screenings, stay on any medication and keep out of trouble.

“You are not a woman who belongs in prison for five years,” Grant said. “At least not on my watch.”

Stephanie Cooper’s attorney, Lisa Dwyer, said she’s relieved the final picture has been revealed.

Calls to the DHS were not returned.

Police said Anges Cooper had been bedridden for some time. She had open sores and dead black flesh dropping from her body.

According to police, the Coopers’ home was in despicable condition. The refrigerator was standing open, with rotten, moldy food inside. A TV stand was being used as a garbage bin with half-eaten food and paper plates. The home's three bedrooms were filled with trash and old food and clothes piled up. Every bathroom in the home was almost impossible to enter due to trash and debris. The toilet area was full of empty bleach bottles, used sanitary pads, used adult diapers, and used toilet paper.