Judge Joseph E. Barki III was elected to the bench in the First Judicial Circuit (Brooke, Hancock, and Ohio Counties) in 2024 and took office January 1, 2025.

Judge Barki was born in Wheeling and raised in Windsor Heights, Brooke County. He graduated from Brooke County High School in 1991 and from Bethany College, summa cum laude, in 1996 with degrees in political science and psychology. He was a West Virginia State Trooper for one year and then attended and graduated from Widener Law School in 2000. While at Widener, he received the Alexander V. Sarcone Award, which is presented to the student with the highest average and ability in criminal law and was Order of Barristers, an honor representing outstanding achievement in oral advocacy.

After law school, he spent one year practicing with Bailey and Wyant, PLLC. He then had a solo practice from 2001-2012 while simultaneously serving as a part-time assistant prosecutor for Brooke County (2003-2012), for Hancock County (2010-2017), and for Ohio County (2001- 2012). He was also named a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2012. He was elected Brooke County Prosecuting Attorney in 2013 and held that position until he took the bench.

As a prosecutor, he led the Weirton-Brooke-Hancock Drug Task Force and the Northern Panhandle Community Correction Board, which oversees the Lee Day Report Center. He also was a board member for the Northern District of West Virginia Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and a board member for the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.

He and his wife, Dr. Kelly Barki, have three children.