Biography
Matthew Banta, known as "Commander Red" in anti-fascist circles, is a Neenah, Wisconsin organizer who was arrested twice during BLM protests in August 2020. At a protest in Waupaca, Wisconsin on August 1, 2020, he was accused of raising a loaded rifle at a police officer and struggling with officers. At a Green Bay protest on August 29, 2020, he was stopped en route to the demonstration and found carrying smoke grenades, fireworks, and what police described as a flamethrower (which Banta maintained was a propane hand torch without a propulsion system). A criminal complaint called him "known to be a violent Antifa member who incites violence in otherwise relatively peaceful protests." In the Brown County (Green Bay) case he was convicted of misdemeanor obstruction and bail jumping and sentenced in September 2021 to 90 days in jail. In a separate Waupaca County case he pleaded no contest in December 2022 to felony battery or threat to a law enforcement officer and received 3 years probation. The Wisconsin Court of Appeals affirmed the Waupaca conviction on May 8, 2025. Its order records that sentence was withheld and the court imposed three years of probation and a $1,500 fine plus court costs.
Waupaca conviction and appeal
The Wisconsin Court of Appeals, in 2023AP1923-CRNM (Waupaca County 2020CF204), affirmed Matthew Lee Banta’s conviction on May 8, 2025. Pages 2–3 state that he pleaded no contest to battery to a law enforcement officer without the dangerous-weapon enhancer; the other counts were dismissed and read in. The circuit court withheld sentence and imposed three years of probation and a $1,500 fine plus court costs. This is distinct from his Brown County/Green Bay case and its jail sentence. The appellate order does not supply a jail admission, physical release, or exact sentencing date, and its date is not entered as one.
Wisconsin Court of Appeals order, May 8, 2025, full six pages.
