Hon. Joseph C. Welty was appointed to the Arizona Superior Court in Maricopa County in 2007 and has served on the Family, Criminal, Juvenile and Civil benches. Judge Welty was appointed the Presiding Criminal Department Judge by the Hon. Norman Davis and was appointed the Associate Presiding Judge of the Judicial Branch by the Hon. Janet Barton. In August of 2019 he was appointed Presiding Judge of the Judicial Branch in Maricopa County by the Arizona Supreme Court.

Prior to taking the bench, Judge Welty was an Assistant United States Attorney in Phoenix for 16 years, where he was responsible for investigating and prosecuting large scale drug conspiracies, felony offenses in Indian Country and domestic and international terrorism cases. In 1995, he was assigned to the Oklahoma City Bombing investigation. In 2001, he led a team of Arizona attorneys to support the FBI in the investigation of the 911 terrorist attacks. He served as the Deputy Chief of the Violent Crime Section and Chief of the National Security Section.

Judge Welty has taught extensively on a broad range of topics for the U.S. Department of Justice, the Arizona Office of the Courts, numerous bar associations, and as an adjunct professor at Arizona State University. He co-chaired the New Judge Orientation Program for the Arizona Supreme Court and chaired the Supreme Court’s Criminal Rules Task Force as well as the Task Force on Rule 32 of the Arizona Rules of Criminal Procedure. He also served on the Presiding Judges Committee and Arizona Judicial Council. He has received numerous awards from the U. S. Department of Justice, the Arizona Supreme Court, the Arizona State Bar and the Maricopa County Bar Association.

Judge Welty was born and raised in Phoenix. He received his undergraduate degree from Loyola Marymount University and his JD from the Georgetown University Law Center.