A condition of the probation is that Jordan, 37, enter and stick with an outpatient psychiatric program. The judge rejected the prosecutor's request for a year in jail.
Carro also signed an order of protection that bars Jordan from trying to contact the 38-year-old Thurman for five years. If he violates the terms of the probation or the order of protection, he will go to jail, the judge said.
Jordan was convicted May 6 of the stalking and aggravated harassment of the "Pulp Fiction" actress from 2005 to 2007 - calling her family and employees, sending her creepy cards and e-mail messages, and showing up at the door of her Greenwich Village home late at night.
"I just want to apologize to Ms. Thurman and to her family," Jordan said. Thurman and her family were not at the sentencing.
"I have tried to be law abiding and treat people with respect," said Jordan, a college graduate who was a lifeguard and pool cleaner when he was arrested. "I overstepped those bounds with Ms. Thurman and I am very sorry. I had no idea I had done that until this trial."
"The slightest word from Ms. Thurman - if she had said, 'You're frightening me, leave me alone' - she would never have heard from me again," Jordan said. "My intention was for a kind of relationship to develop between us."
The judge said the actress didn't have to tell Jordan directly to stay away.
"It's important that you understand that your behavior is unacceptable," said Carro. "If you don't you are likely to repeat it, and if you repeat it, you will almost certainly go to jail."
Carro said that if he had sentenced Jordan to a year, he probably would have gotten out on good behavior in about four months. He spent several months in jail before trial and after his conviction.
Jordan testified that he developed a crush on Thurman in high school after seeing her in the 1988 movie "The Adventures of Baron Munchausen." His feelings intensified after he saw her in the Quentin Tarantino-directed "Kill Bill" in 2003.
The son of a physicist and a homemaker, Jordan earned a bachelor's degree in English literature from the University of Chicago in 1994; he also has done most of the work for a master's degree.
