Joe was born and raised in Jasper County, Missouri. His family has roots here for over a century. His father, Jerry, and his Grandfather, Joe, were machinists and tool-and-die makers. Joe’s brother, Josh, now continues that work at All-Tech Engineering in Webb City, Missouri. Joe’s mother, Lucinda, worked in city government and later as a paralegal.

Joe worked for his uncle Don Shoup on his farm in Carl Junction, Missouri in the summers and later in his machine shop in Joplin. During the summer while in college Joe worked for Morton Booth gun cabinet manufacturer in Carterville on the loading docks and in the warehouses.

Joe married another Jasper County native, Dina (Moore), in 2000 in Carthage at the historic Phelps House. Joe’s aspirations even before law school were to become a Judge and serve the people where he grew up. Therefore they moved back to Jasper County in 2002. Joe and Dina live in Joplin and are the parents of Ella (17) and Joe (15). They are members of Carterville Christian Church.

Outside of his judicial responsibilities, Judge Hensley has been or is currently a Board Member of The Joplin Family Y, Board Member of Hope 4 You Breast Cancer Foundation, Board member of Crimestoppers, Board Member of the R-7 Scholarship Foundation, Board Member of Fostering Hope, Joy in the Journey Adoption Ministry, and Member of the Carl Junction Lions Club.

Joe attended Webb City Schools and graduated with honors in 1991. He played football, wrestled and played golf for Webb City and still passionately follows local high school and college sports teams.

He then attended The University of Missouri – Columbia, graduating summa cum laude with Honors in May of 1995. Joe immediately enrolled in law school at Mizzou the following fall. He graduated in 1998 in the top third of his class and earned several competitive awards based on courtroom advocacy, including the 1996 moot court champion and captain of the 1997 Mizzou “A Team.” He was also awarded the National Moot Court Prize, the Fred L. Howard Prize for Excellence in Appellate Advocacy, the Roscoe Anderson Award for Excellence in Moot Court, and the Thomas E. Deacy, Jr., Prize in Trial Advocacy. He was inducted into the Order of the Barristers and was a member of the Board of Advocates Executive Committee while serving as the 1997 Tournament Director.

In his second year of law school, Joe was the center of a “lost and found” story. Joe found a wallet at the University of Missouri’s Student Rec Center at closing time. The wallet had a large amount of cash inside but no identifying information. He returned the wallet the next day when the student who lost the wallet posted a sign. In appreciation, the student contacted the student newspaper, the “Maneater,” who ran the story on the front page.

The story was picked up by the University Chancellors, who invited Joe to speak at their monthly luncheon. The positive publicity the story generated for the law school led to the Dean appointing Joe as the Chairperson of the Law School’s Honor Code Committee, a body designed to self-govern ethical violations among the students.

Joe has been a trial attorney or a trial judge for 25 years, beginning in 1998. After practicing in Springfield, Missouri for four years at Neale & Newman, LLP, Joe relocated to Joplin, Missouri in 2002 and opened The Hensley Law Firm, L.L.C. In addition to his private practice, he served as Chief Legal Counsel for the Jasper County Juvenile Office from 2003 until 2007. He was also Jasper County special prosecutor until 2007 when he partnered with John Nicholas to form Hensley & Nicholas, L.L.C.

In his private practice he handled general civil litigation, family law, appeals, and a special emphasis in juvenile and adoption law. He appeared in state courts throughout southwest Missouri, and frequently argued cases before the Missouri Court of Appeals, Southern District.

In 2013, Hensley was inducted into the American Academy of Adoption Attorneys (AAAA), an international association of approximately 470 attorneys, judges and law professors throughout the world who distinguished themselves in the field of adoption law and are dedicated to the highest standards of practice in the field. He was vice-chair of the Missouri Bar’s Juvenile Courts and Laws Committee, a certified Guardian ad Litem, a licensed mediator, an alumni of the Missouri Bar Leadership Academy, and former adjunct professor at Drury University.

In November of 2014, Mr. Hensley was elected Jasper County Associate Circuit Judge of Division 5, and took office on December 30, 2014. His dockets are among the most diverse in Jasper County, including civil cases from small claims cases to multi-million dollar class action lawsuits, criminal cases from low level misdemeanors to class A felonies, administrative hearing reviews, and juvenile cases.

In 2017, Joe was appointed to the Missouri Supreme Court’s Task Force on Criminal Justice. In 2019, he was the first associate circuit judge in Jasper County appointed to a presiding judge position, as the Presiding Juvenile Court Judge.

In September of 2022 at the annual meeting of the Missouri Bar, Judge Hensley received the Theodore McMillian Judicial Excellence Award. Established in 2004, the award recognizes judges who have inspired others of the judiciary through their integrity and leadership to help advance the administration of justice and provide outstanding public and community services to Missouri residents.

Missouri Circuit Courts are courts of original civil and criminal jurisdiction. The Twenty-Ninth Judicial Circuit is a single county circuit whose jurisdiction is Jasper County, Missouri. The Circuit is comprised of 6 elected judges, one family court commissioner, and one treatment court commissioner. Each judge presides over a division and are often referred to by their division. The circuit judges and associate circuit judges are elected by the constituents of Jasper County.

Divisions I, II, III are presided over by circuit judges. The Circuit Division (also referred to as the trial court) has general jurisdiction over civil cases with any cause of action over $25,000, criminal felony cases transferred from the Associate Circuit Division, and other cases when assigned.

Judicial Candidates are more restricted than politicians running for a legislative or an executive position. A judicial candidate should not answer specific questions about their stance or position on issues that could come up in a case. The reason is that it could be grounds to disqualify that Judge in the future.

You can read all about these restrictions in an article from former Missouri Chief Justice Michael A. Wolff that is posted on the Missouri Bar website: “Promises, Promises ... What Should a Judicial Candidate Say?”

However, if you want the abridged version, Judges are expected to apply the law to the facts impartially and without bias or prejudice. It comes down to these questions posed by Justice Wolff: When an issue comes before a court, do you want your case to be decided by someone who already has announced his or her position on the matter during a campaign? Or would you rather have the opportunity to present the facts, issues and law as you see them before the judge makes a decision? The answer is obvious. For that reason, if I do not answer your question in the manner I would if you were consulting me as your attorney or your friend, I apologize in advance. People who know me are well aware that I am neither indecisive nor lack convictions. I would rather be able to serve the citizens of Jasper County in any matter that comes before me, however, rather than pass a case to another judge due to any appearance of injustice or inequity.