Judge Wharton was elected to the bench in the Fourth Judicial Circuit (then Wood and Wirt Counties) in 2016. In 2024, he was re-elected to the new Fourth Judicial Circuit, now consisting of only Wood County.

Judge Wharton is a lifelong resident of Wood County. He has a bachelor’s degree in business administration from West Virginia University and a law degree from the West Virginia University College of Law.

Judge Wharton presides over both the Mid-Ohio Valley Adult Drug Court and the Wood County Family Treatment Court. He also serves on the West Virginia Judicial Investigation Commission and the Mass Litigation Panel.

He previously was the elected Wood County Prosecuting Attorney for eight years. Before that, he was an Assistant Prosecutor for 10 years and was cross designated as a special assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of West Virginia. Prior to joining the Wood County Prosecutor’s Office, he worked for the law firm Albright, Bradley, and Ellison.

Judge Wharton served as a board member of the Arc of the Mid-Ohio Valley and United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley. He was a board member and past president of the West Virginia University at Parkersburg Foundation and a member and former Chair of the West Virginia State Bar Young Lawyer’s Executive Committee. Judge Wharton is a member of the Parkersburg Lions Club.

He and his wife, Heidi, live in Vienna and have two children.