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Brooke County Prosecuting Attorney Joseph Barki III has declared his candidacy for judge for the 1st Judicial Circuit Court, which includes Hancock, Brooke and Ohio counties.
Barki will face incumbent Ronald Wilson in the May 14 primary election.
Barki was elected Brooke County prosecutor in 2013 after serving as assistant prosecuting attorney for Brooke County from 2003 to 2012, for Hancock County from 2001 to 2007 and Ohio County from 2001 to 2012.
He said in that time, he prosecuted more than 60 circuit court trials in the three counties and successfully prosecuted 10 murder trials.
Also named a special assistant to the U.S. Attorney's Office in 2012, Barki said, "I have handled more than 1,000 felony cases during my 21-year prosecuting career in both state and federal court, predominately in the areas of drug and violent crime."
He said he's had significant experience handling abuse and neglect cases and juvenile prosecutions, argued successfully six times before the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, and served as counsel for the plaintiff or defense in six civil trials.
A native of Windsor Heights, he graduated from Brooke High School in 1991, Bethany College summa cum laude and Widener University Law School in the top 8 percent of his class.
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 named to the dean's honors list each semester and to the Order of Barristers, an honor representing outstanding achievement in oral advocacy.
A former state trooper who served in Martinsburg, he is a graduate of the West Virginia State Police Academy.
He is president of the Hancock-Brooke-Weirton Drug Task Force and the Northern Panhandle Community Correction Board, a board member for the Northern District of West Virginia Anti-Terrorism Advisory Council and a former board member for the Appalachia High Intensity Drug Trafficking Area.
He has practiced law in Brooke, Hancock and Ohio counties since 2001.
Barki said he is running "because after 40 years, it's time for a new approach in the 1st Judicial Circuit Court. My judicial philosophy reflects our current, common sense community standards and is the polar opposite of the philosophies being pushed in big cities across the country."
"It's a philosophy that will provide a fair, consistent application of West Virginia, and my experience and working knowledge of the criminal justice system will not only ensure that an individual's rights are protected, but also that the punishment fits the crime."