Michael McCoy was born and raised in Orange County, California, the youngest of 11 children. After graduating from the University of California at Davis in 1997, Michael enlisted in the Army and served in the Reserves while attending Santa Clara University School of Law. [Read More]
In early 2002, Michael received a direct commission in the United States Air Force as a JAG Officer. He was subsequently assigned as an Assistant Staff Judge Advocate at Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana and then at Edwards Air Force Base in California, serving as trial counsel in Courts-Martial and providing other legal services to the military. In 2005, Michael volunteered for a yearlong deployment to Baghdad, Iraq, in support of the Regime Crimes Liaison’s Office (RCLO) mission to help the Iraqis set up a tribunal to investigate and prosecute Saddam Hussein and other high-ranking members of the Ba’ath Party regime. In 2006, after returning from Iraq, Michael married his wife Erin and moved to Colorado Springs, Colorado, where he was assigned to work as an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law at the United States Air Force Academy.
In 2008, Michael left active duty military service and became an Assistant United States Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. As an AUSA in Illinois, he prosecuted a wide variety of federal crimes, including drug conspiracy, child exploitation, fraud, bank robbery, environmental, and immigration offenses. In 2012, Michael transferred to the US Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of California in Sacramento where he prosecuted federal drug and firearm crimes. While working as an Assistant US Attorney, Michael argued criminal appeals in front of both the Seventh and Ninth Circuits.
In 2015, Michael joined the El Dorado County District Attorney’s Office as a Deputy District Attorney and worked on a wide variety of criminal cases, including homicides, domestic violence, sexual assault, elder abuse, workers’ compensation fraud, premium fraud and underground economy cases. Michael also managed El Dorado County’s Veterans Treatment Court program on behalf of the DA’s Office.
In 2021, increasingly concerned about the state of the American education system, Michael left his nearly 20-year career as a state and federal prosecutor and joined the mission of creating the next generation of “servant leaders” at John Adams Academy, a public charter school network in northern California with over 5,000 scholars. At John Adams Academy, Michael worked as Associate Counsel for the Academy, Assistant Dean of Secondary, Campus Expansion Project Liaison, as well as taught US History to juniors.
Michael is a Lieutenant Colonel in the California Air National Guard and is currently serving as the Staff Judge Advocate for the 195th Wing at Beale Air Force Base.
Michael and his wife Erin live in northern California with their four children, ages 6 to 16.
