Knox County DA fires prosecutor over posts praising Nazis, advocating killing migrants
Berkley Mason began working for the DA's office in October 2024 and frequently posted to X, formerly Twitter. The account was deleted immediately after the DA's office told Knox News it had fired him. The post and reposts go beyond what most would consider political statements and include references endorsing Nazism and the killing of migrants, and blaming Black people for America's problems.
One repost from April 16 sums up the account. 'Every day I try to be less racist and every day they make it impossible."
The DA's office was not aware of the account until Knox News asked questions about it. In a statement to Knox News, District Attorney Charme Allen said she fired Mason, "effective immediately," and ordered "a review of the cases he handled and will take appropriate corrective action if necessary."
"As your elected District Attorney, it is my job to fairly administer justice for all Knox County citizens," Allen said in her statement. "It is imperative that prosecutors in my office be moral, ethical, fair-minded persons who are able to apply the laws of our state justly to each set of facts presented on a case-by-case basis.
"Today, I learned that Assistant District Attorney Berkley Mason maintains a social media account where he has made statements such as, 'What ever reason we can make up to get as many of them out as possible. …. Whatever means necessary.' Statements like this indicate a willingness to 'make up' false evidence and circumvent the law in order to achieve a particular goal by 'whatever means necessary.' This post, as well as others, undermines my confidence in his ability to uphold his oath as a prosecutor to 'administer justice without respect of person and impartially discharge all of the duties incumbent upon (a prosecutor).'"
Knox News could not immediately reach Mason for comment.
The account calls into question Mason's ability to be an impartial prosecutor. As of May 2, 28% of the 111 cases Mason has been assigned include a minority defendant, according to a review of booking photos in JIMS, the court's online database. The figure includes only pending court cases.
Mason changed the username tied to the account some years ago from one that mirrored his name to an account he can use anonymously, according to a person who has followed him on X since they were in high school. Mason, however, didn't delete old posts showing his name. He even kept posts showing his photograph.
Knox News brought information about the account to Assistant District Attorney Sean McDermott on May 5.
After receiving a tip about the account, Knox News pieced together dozens of identifying posts amid the thousands posted or reposted. Many of them center on his time as a student at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville, where he received his bachelor's degree and law degree, according to his LinkedIn profile.
In July 2019 Mason posted a screenshot of an email he received about a dropped class at UT (the post doesn't list the school but a phone number in the email is connected to UT). Included in the post is his username: bmason14.
Also in July 2019 Mason posted a series of complaints about UT and included a screenshot of his student portal page, which included a photo of himself.
In July 2018 Mason posted a photo of himself.
There are several posts about living in Knoxville, including some with photos of the Cathedral of the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus on Northshore Drive.
Mason, 26, posted he is an 'older zoomer,' a term used to describe someone born in the late 1990s or the early 2000s. Mason was born in 1999.
Mason mentioned his education several times, and details match descriptions on his LinkedIn profile. In January he posted about a pre-law class, taking the LSAT, the law school entrance exam, and attending a state law school.
In January Mason posted about his time studying abroad. This matches his LinkedIn profile, which shows he attended the Universidad de Granada from January-May 2020.
There are some inconsistencies between Mason's biography and information in the posts. In two posts, for instance, Mason lists an age that doesn't match his actual age at the time.
In one post, he said he was married at 21. He was married at 23, according to his wedding registry website.
In another, in January, he said he was 26 when he was 25.
Both posts and reposts show up on a user's X account. Posts are made by the account holder and reposts are posts made by other people shared on another individual's account.
Repost: 'Every day I try to be less racist and every day they make it impossible'
Post replying to a post bemoaning a perceived America which focuses on 'corporate HR diversity czars, migrant killers, and welfare queens." 'We need more migrant killers and less killer migrants.'
Post replying to a post about 'Hood (diminutive of n-word)' being allowed to have fully automatic weapons. 'Jurors and judges simply refuse to put them in jail. Some state laws protect them with a strong presumption of probation. Prosecutors don't want to waste resources when they know they won't get jail time.'
Post in response to a post saying something 'reeks of Nazism.' 'If that's the case then cool. HH. 1488. We're going to put you in a camp. Happy now?' 'HH' often refers to Heil Hitler and '1488' is a known white supremacist slogan.
Repost of a video showing Black people fighting. 'Let's check in on what White taxpayers are funding today via subsidized housing/section 8'
Post of a Trump-Vance 2024 campaign slogan on a Confederate flag
Repost: 'Watching Jevvs repost my anti-Muslim content not realizing I'm a Nazi' (post has since been deleted by the original account, but screenshot of post is attached)
Repost: A photo of Hamid Patel, the interim chairman of Britain's Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills, with the statement, 'Anyone who looks like this should be deported'
Mason frequently posted a diminutive of the n-word.
There is recent history of Tennessee attorneys defending controversial statements or social media posts.
Jerry Morgan, a Middle Tennessee attorney, was fired from his role as an attorney at the Board of Professional Responsibility in 2020 after his controversial posts, which dated from 2015-16 during Donald Trump's first campaign, were used in an attempt to remove him from a trial. The posts, among other things, spoke about stopping Muslims from entering the country.
Morgan did not work for the board, which regulates attorney conduct in Tennessee, when he posted the posts. He forcefully argued his First Amendment rights of free speech should win out. The following year he sued the board in U.S. District Court. The two sides reached a settlement. He now is in private practice.
Similarly, in 2021 Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott had ethics charges brought against him by the board after his statement that gay people were not entitled to domestic protections and that all Muslims are "evil," according to Nashville's News Channel 5. But the ethics charges, which were not made public, were eventually dropped.
This is the second prosecutor who lost his job in recent months over violations of departmental standards. The same month Mason was hired, in October 2024, assistant district attorney Robert DeBusk resigned after Knox News reported he was suspended after he was accused of lying under oath.
DeBusk testified Oct. 10 he had not asked a supervisor to sign off on using a recorded phone call from a jail inmate to his attorney. His testimony was proven false after an attorney testified DeBusk told her that same day, outside the courtroom, that he had sought and received permission from his supervisor to use the recorded call.
DeBusk was recalled to the stand and initially denied the attorney's account before agreeing it was true and invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
DeBusk joined the DA's office in 2021.
Knox News reporter Myron Thompson contributed to this report.
Tyler Whetstone is an investigative reporter focused on accountability journalism. Connect with Tyler by emailing him at tyler.whetstone@knoxnews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @tyler_whetstone.
This article originally appeared on Knoxville News Sentinel: Knox County DA fires prosecutor over posts praising Nazis, targeting migrants
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