William Merrill, a Central Michigan University (CMU) professor, has been sentenced to six years in jail on charges of child pornography possession, MLive.com reported.

Merrill, 58, said his past abuse as a child lead him to his actions. His research at CMU was in censorship and the Internet, but included that his abuse as a child did not excuse what he did.

"My childhood and teen years put some context around what I did," Merrill told Judge Thomas L. Ludington Tuesday in U.S. District Court in Bay City. "I never harmed a child, but I understand children were abused. Because of my collection, children were abused."

Ludington passed down a sentence of 70 months in prison and a five-year supervised release. The judge then asked Merrill why he compiled a library of 60,000 videos and 100,000 images on his computer.

Merrill said his abuse as a preteen was recorded when he lived in Europe and when he began searching the Internet for child pornography, he was looking for himself in the material's content.

"I kept those materials because I felt, emotionally, I was protecting those individuals," Merrill said.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Libby Kelly Dill said 90 percent of Merrill's collection was from after 1970 and some material was sexually violent in nature. She also said Merrill had cartoon imagery of violent child porn.

Merrill pleaded guilty in March to one count of receipt of child pornography, a felony with a minimum of five years in prison. In exchange for his plea, prosecutors dismissed a second count of receipt and the charge of possession.

Frank Reynolds, Merrill's attorney, said his client had "tremendous family support." His wife and three adult children sat behind them during his sentencing where he apologized to them and to CMU. Reynolds said Merrill began psychiatric treatment after his wife prevented him from committing suicide shortly after police began investigating the case.

Merrill also admitted to downloading images in his office at CMU. School officials alerted the police when they noticed a high volume of data transferred on one computer. The data was traced to Merrill's laptop and an examination by tech staff members showed the images.

Merrill was formally charged on Nov. 20, 2012, 15 days after his suspension from CMU and about a week after he resigned from his tenured position.

A federal grand jury indicted Merrill one month later.