CHARLESTON – Gov. Jim Justice has appointed two men to vacant circuit judge positions.
On Dec. 11, he named Shawn David Nines of Thornton as a new judge for the 19th Judicial Circuit. The position serves Barbour and Taylor counties.
Nines earned both his Bachelors and Master’s degrees in Petroleum and Natural Gas Engineering from West Virginia University and is a graduate of the University of Akron Law School.
Since 2007 he has operated his own private law practice in Grafton. He has served as an Assistant Prosecuting Attorney in both Taylor and Barbour counties, City Attorney for Grafton, a lawyer for Huddleston Bolen LLP., and was a law clerk for the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals.
Nines also serves as the assistant football and strength training coach at Grafton High School.
He and his wife Donetta reside in Thornton with their four-year-old twins.
Nines was one of four who applied for the position, which was a newly created post. They were interviewed on Dec. 11 by the Judicial Vacancy Advisory Commission.
On Dec. 7, Justice appointed Fayetteville attorney Thomas H. Ewing to fill the vacancy on the 12th Judicial Circuit Court serving Fayette County.
Ewing graduated from Glenville State College with Bachelors degrees in Education and History and is a graduate of the West Virginia University College of Law.
Since 2004 he has been an attorney with the law firm of Kay, Casto & Chaney, PLLC. He has been the Managing Member of the firm’s Fayetteville location since it opened in 2015.
Ewing and his wife Mindy reside in Edmond and have four children.
Ewing was one eight who applied for the Fayette position created by the retirement of Circuit Judge John Hatcher Jr., and he was one of three names given to the governor by the JVAC after it conducted interviews Oct. 23 and 24.