Hi, I'm
Matthew Thornhill
I was born in Saint Charles, and I've lived in Saint Charles County my entire life. My parents, Eugene and Rita Thornhill, still live in my childhood home in O'Fallon. I have five brothers (one, Andrew, deceased) and one sister. Two of my brothers, Kenny and David, still live in the county. I attended Assumption Grade School and Saint Dominic High School, graduating in 1986. I then pursued higher education at Rockhurst College in Kansas City and Notre Dame Law School in Indiana.
In 1993, I began my legal career as an assistant prosecutor for Saint Charles County, and I spent the next thirteen years there. I litigated sixty-five jury trials, first in traffic court and later in the felony division and sex crimes unit. I received MADD's Prosecutor of the Year Award and achieved the largest verdict in the county's history in 1999, securing sixteen life sentences for a child predator.
I was elected Associate Circuit Judge in 2006, and I've been serving the county in Division 12 ever since – that's seventeen years! Only one judge of the current sixteen has been in their position longer than me. I've presided in more than twenty-five jury trials, both civil and criminal, and thousands of bench trials in civil, criminal, and family cases. My current assignment includes rent and possession, civil litigation, small claims, criminal record expungements, non-contested divorces and name changes, structured settlements, limited driving privileges, driver's license reinstatements, and administrative DOR appeals.
I married my wife, Heather, in 1997, and we have seven children together, six girls and one boy. I am a member of Harvester Christian Church, where I have been an adult Sunday school teacher longer than I have been a judge. I've also served there as an elder and acted for fifteen years in the annual Christmas play, Journey to Bethlehem. I love Elvis, gardening, watching soccer, golfing with my son, and running with my dog on the Katy Trail. I also keep bees, play pickleball with my kids, and frequent thrift stores looking for old books. You can often find me at Allin's Diner on Kingshighway in Saint Charles, ordering a hamburger and coffee for lunch.
My Family
My Education & Career
My Beliefs
“The justice system is a forum where citizens bring disputes they cannot solve themselves, to have them resolved by evenhanded judges, to obtain closure and move on with their lives. Judges must constistently and impartially follow the law, even when their emotions tempt them to do otherwise. If they are inconsistent or play favorites, results become unpredictable, and litigants have no basis for settling prior to their trial date Even where the judiciary is fair, the system only works like it should when the judge treats the litigants, whether represented by an attorney or not, with courtesy and respect. People who are permitted to say what they thought was important in front of the judge will conclude, no matter the outcome, that they truly 'had their day in Court.'”
