Edward F. McCann Jr, First Assistant

As First Assistant, Ed McCann oversees the day- to-day administration of the office, supervises the legal staff and oversees the prosecution of approximately 9,000 cases annually. 

McCann is a seasoned prosecutor with a wealth of experience. In 2019, he prosecuted five corrections officers and two supervisors for assaulting inmates in the Montgomery County Correctional Facility and covering it up, obtaining convictions from a jury on two of the defendants for official oppression. This year, McCann prosecuted Lisa Smith and Keiff King for first-degree murder in the beating death of 4-year-old Tahjir Smith, which began after the boy spilled his breakfast cereal. 

These are just two of the significant cases McCann has prosecuted since joining the Montgomery County District Attorney’s Office, coming in with DA Steele in 2016. Other notable cases include Commonwealth v. Joshua Trunk for the execution-style murder of his mother and her boyfriend. He also successfully prosecuted multiple members of two rival gangs who had been terrorizing Pottstown with shooting and violence before their arrests and convictions on a variety of charges, ranging from drug dealing to attempted murder. 

Prior to joining the Montco DA’s Office, McCann spent 26 years in the Philadelphia District Attorney’s Office, including serving as the First Assistant from 2011 to 2015. There, he prosecuted a number of noteworthy cases, including leading the grand jury investigation into the death of Danieal Kelly, a 14-year-old girl who died horribly neglected in her home while supposedly being monitored by the City’s Department of Human Services. He obtained convictions of all nine defendants charged. 

McCann is committed to community service and to children’s causes. He sits on the Pennsylvania Attorney General’s Legal Advisory Board on Child Abuse, which reviews child abuse and neglect cases, and is on the Mission Kids Management Team.