MALIBU, California (CNN)) -- Actor Mel Gibson pleaded no contest on Thursday to a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge and has been sentenced to three years on probation, prosecutors said.
He could have been sentenced to as long as six months in jail.
Police stopped Gibson in July on the Pacific Coast Highway near Malibu and Los Angeles County Sheriff's deputies said he had a blood-alcohol level of .12, well above the legal limit of .08.
He admitted making anti-Semitic remarks during his arrest and apologized, saying the comments were "blurted out in a moment of insanity."
He announced he was entering a recovery program to battle alcoholism, and he asked to meet with Jewish leaders to help him "discern the appropriate path for healing."
Gibson entered Thursday's plea through his attorney and did not appear in court, the Los Angeles County District Attorney's office said.
"This was an appropriate outcome which addresses all the public safety concerns of drinking and driving," Deputy District Attorney Gina Satriano said in a written statement.
Superior Court Judge Lawrence Mira ordered Gibson to attend Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week for four and a half months and three times a week for the remainder of the first year of his probation. He was fined $1,300 and his license was restricted for 90 days.
He also volunteered to record a public service announcement on the dangers of driving drunk and volunteered to immediately enter into a rehabilitation program, prosecutors said.
Gibson starred in action movies such as "The Road Warrior" and "Lethal Weapon" and directed the Oscar-winning "Braveheart" as well as "The Passion of The Christ," the controversial 2004 film that many observers condemned as anti-Semitic.
In the wake of Gibson's arrest, ABC announced that it was dumping a mini-series set during the Holocaust that Gibson's film company, Icon Productions, had been developing for the network. The network said it had never seen a script for the project.