CLEVELAND, Ohio --A county judge sentenced former Judge Harry Jacob III today to 60 days in jail and six months house arrest for falsifying court records and paying for sex with prostitutes.

Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Brian Corrigan also placed Jacob on probation for two years.

Attorneys for Jacob are appealing the five misdemeanor convictions.

"These have been the darkest days of my life," a choked-up Jacob told the judge as he apologized to his family, the Bedford court staff and any women whose drug addictions potentially he fed or worsened.

Last month, Corrigan found Jacob guilty on three charges that he had sex with prostitutes and two charges involving the falsification of municipal court records.

The falsification charges involved court journal entries in a 2012 domestic violence case.

Corrigan found Jacob, 56, not guilty of more serious felony charges, including tampering with records and obstructing justice.

Prosecutors had asked for a sentence of 360 days in jail and a $2,500 fine. Corrigan also imposed that maximum fine.

Corrigan said what most "stuck in his craw" was the falsification crime in which Jacob took a plea and sentenced a man in a domestic violence case without the Bedford Heights prosecutor being present.

Assistant County Prosecutor Matthew Meyer said Jacob abused his power as a judge and dishonored the legal profession.

Meyer pointed to one sentencing in which Jacob insisted one prostitute go to jail for her crimes, yet he was asking the judge to treat him differently.

"He's coming to you, another judge, and asking you to go light on him," Meyer said.

"Now that it's time to face the punishment, he doesn't want to subject himself to the same punishment other people would get, and that's the inside of a jail cell."

Attorneys for Jacob blasted prosecutors saying that, along with the legal case, they subjected Jacob to a "public flogging" loaded with "hoopla, sensationalism and rhetoric."

"He's been punished enough, quite frankly," David Grant said.

Grant said Jacob has gotten treatment for his personal and family issues that precipitated his actions.

Friends and Jacob's priest from St. Rita's in Solon spoke on his behalf.

"I've known Harry to be a faithful man. Obviously he made a mistake but I believe in him," Father Patrick Spicer said.

Defense Attorney Kevin Spellacy also said Jacob offered to resign his judgeship nearly a year ago and plead guilty to similar crimes Corrigan found him guilty of but prosecutors rebuffed those offers.

Then they blamed him for the cost for taxpayers in paying his salary and for that of a visiting judge while the case worked through the court system, Spellacy said.

Jacob retired from the bench last week.