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McLean County Judge Freitag To Retire In July

Illinois State University

A second local judge will be retiring this year.

McLean County Circuit Judge Robert Freitag announced Monday he will retire in July. Freitag’s term runs through 2020, so the Illinois Supreme Court can appoint someone to complete his term until the 2020 election.

Freitag has spent the past 10 years as presiding judge of McLean County’s criminal division. He also recently retired from the U.S. Army Reserves. That service included a yearlong deployment to Iraq in 2005-2006.

“My entire professional career has been dedicated to serving my community and my nation, and it has been an absolute privilege to do both,” Freitag said in a statement. “I have been blessed and humbled not only by the positions I have been entrusted with, but also by dedicated and passionate colleagues who, by their friendship and support, made me a better lawyer and a better judge.

“I will miss those friends and will certainly miss the challenges and rewards of serving as a judge, but am looking forward to starting the next chapter in my life and will be looking for new avenues to provide volunteer service,” Freitag added.

Freitag, a former prosecutor and public defender, became an associate judge in 2000. He was elected a full circuit judge in 2008 and retained by voters in 2014.

Freitag’s announcement comes less than two months after Eleventh Judicial Circuit Chief Judge Kevin Fitzgerald released his own retirement plans. Fitzgerald will retire when his terms end in December. Associate Judge Bill Yoder is seeking election for the resident circuit judge spot being vacated Fitzgerald.

Ryan Denham is the digital content director for WGLT.
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