Montes to Serve as Sugar Land Judge

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Sugar Land City Council recently appointed Matthew Montes to the position of municipal court judge.

Montes is a Sugar Land resident with 15 years of experience as a prosecutor and defense attorney. He replaces Judge Craig Landin, who chose to retire after 30 years with the city.

Montes most recently served as the chief city prosecutor for the city of Pasadena where he handled a docket of more than 60,000 cases per year. He managed a broad range of cases focusing on areas such as the Department of Transportation, city ordinances, code enforcement, junk vehicle seizures, motions to abate, traffic violations, Class C criminal matters and more.

“Throughout my career, I have gained invaluable experience involving the inner workings of the court, its interactions with City Hall and have worked closely with the presiding judge as well as police leadership to help craft and shape policy,” said Montes. “I have got big shoes to fill in Sugar Land, but I am excited to join the city’s outstanding team. I have always been impressed with the professionalism of both the court staff, prosecution and police. Serving as municipal judge for the place that I call home is truly a dream come true.”

Prior to Pasadena, Montes was an assistant city attorney at the city Arcola. He was a managing partner at Ghuneim & Montes Law Office, PLLC, from 2016 to 2020, operated his own law office from 2011 to 2016 and served as an associate attorney at several legal firms in Texas from 2009 to 2015.

Montes received a law degree from Rutgers University School of Law and a bachelor’s degree from Southern Methodist University.  He and his wife have two children.