The case against a man who last year brought a gun to a rally in Huntsville has come to an end with a guilty plea and probation sentence.

Shane Ryan Sealy, a 36-year-old former high school teacher, pleaded guilty on Thursday to a misdemeanor charge of possession of a firearm at or near a demonstration. He was sentenced to 90 days in jail, though that sentence is being suspended pending successful completion of a year on probation.

Sealy was ordered to pay a $500 fine and court costs. Before he can reapply for a pistol permit, Sealy will be required to complete a gun safety class.

Shane Ryan Sealy is shown in a Madison County jail mugshot.

Sealy’s case made national headlines in the summer of 2018 after he was accused of pulling a gun and yelling “womp womp” during a Keep Families Together rally in Huntsville’s Big Spring Park. People at the rally were protesting the separation of migrant families, a part of the Trump admiration’s “zero-tolerance” policy on immigration. Sealy was a counter-protester.

Sealy’s case has slowly wound through local court systems. He was initially charged and convicted of reckless endangerment and menacing, both misdemeanors, in Huntsville city court. But on appeal, city prosecutors dropped the charges. The city again pursued the case this year when prosecutors charged Sealy with possession of a firearm at or near a demonstration. Sealy again appealed the case to Madison County Circuit Court, where he pleaded guilty today.

Defense attorney Josh Graff said he’s disappointed with the outcome of the case.

“I felt this could’ve been resolved through diversion,” he said. “But ultimately it was Mr. Sealy’s decision (to accept the plea deal).”

Graff had tried unsuccessfully to challenge the constitutionality of the law under which Sealy was charged. He argued the law is overly broad and runs afoul of a 2014 state constitutional amendment, which makes possessing a gun for self-protection a fundamental right in Alabama. Madison County Circuit Judge Chris Comer denied Graff’s request to declare unconstitutional the law banning possession of a gun near a demonstration.

Graff said he would challenge the constitutionality of the law again if given the opportunity. But that opportunity won’t come again in Sealy’s case. As part of his plea deal, Sealy gave up his right to appeal.

Sealy was arrested by Huntsville police on June 30, 2018. He was accused of pulling a gun during a dispute with protesters at the rally that day in the downtown park. He marched and held a sign that said “ice, ice, baby,” a phrase referencing Immigrations and Customs Enforcement. He sang the Vanilla Ice song “Ice Ice Baby” as he walked and shouted the phrase “womp womp.” That phrase had previously been featured on national news when Corey Lewandowski, a former Trump campaign manager, said the words while appearing on Fox News. Lewandowski said “womp womp” when he heard a story about a girl with Down syndrome being taken from her mother in Texas.

Since the incident at the rally, the Alabama Department of Education has revoked Sealy’s teaching certificate, online records show.

Less than two years before the incident, Sealy had been an English teacher at Grissom High School. He voluntarily resigned in the fall of 2016 after teaching there for about two months, school personnel records show.