Judge Alfredo Maldonado has served as an associate judge in the Circuit Court of Cook County since 2014. He currently works in the George N. Leighton Criminal Courts Building in Chicago where he hears felony cases. Additionally, Judge Maldonado presides over the criminal division’s Men’s Mental Health Court which provides intensive mental health and substance abuse services to the program’s participants. Judge Maldonado is a member of the Special Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Pattern Jury Instructions-Criminal, the Illinois Supreme Court Committee on Judicial Education, and the Illinois Supreme Court Special Advisory Committee for Justice and Mental Health Planning. 


Judge Maldonado has presented at various judicial and attorney education seminars and has taught trial advocacy at several area law schools. Before becoming a judge, he worked for the Cook County Public Defender for fifteen years. As an assistant public defender, Judge Maldonado worked in the juvenile, municipal and felony divisions of the office before being promoted to the Homicide Task Force. Judge Maldonado graduated from the University of Iowa College of Liberal Arts in 1993 with Bachelor of Arts degrees in History and Political Science and graduated with distinction from the University of Iowa College of Law in 1996.