A California judge has found the mother of a 13-year-old girl who died weighing 672 lbs (305 kg) guilty of a misdemeanour for child neglect.

Marlene Corrigan had been charged with a felony and could have faced a prison term of up to six years in jail. She is now awaiting her sentence.

She had denied the charges, saying that her daughter, Christina, suffered from a rare medical condition.

Marlene Corrigan: "I was a good parent"

"I'm totally heart-broken about the charges against me. I was, in my eyes, a good parent," she said before the verdict on Friday.

"I did everything a normal parent should do."

But the prosecution said the child, who died of heart failure in November 1996, lived in filthy conditions.

Authorities said her body was found in a squalid apartment, surrounded by empty fast-food containers and covered in bedsores and her own excrement.

"For a parent to let the child lay there and accumulate the horrific bedsores and go through the incredible suffering that this child had to go through, that deserves criminal charges," said Assistant District Attorney, Brian Haynes.

Assistant District Attorney Brian Haynes said it was child abuse

"And I just want everyone to be clear that this is not a case that we are filing on the basis of the weight of the child."

But activists campaigning for overweight people say that is precisely the issue.

In a society obsessed by weight, campaigners say the public is looking for someone to blame.

"They couldn't conceive of a person being that size, and so they are looking for someone to blame instead of asking what could we have done for this child when she was alive," said campaigner Marylin Wann.

Christina Corrigan's life and death has captivated America.

Christina at the age of eight

By the age eight, she weighed 238 lbs (108 kg).

Fed up with taunts and abuse at school, she stayed at home. Heavy and unable to move, she remained in bed watching television.

Mrs Corrigan waived her right to a jury trial. Her lawyer feared horrific pictures of Christina would prejudice a jury.

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