Tennessee D.A. investigated for comments on homosexuality, Islam has case dismissed

NASHVILLE, Tenn.--A Tennessee District Attorney previously under fire for comments on homosexuality and Islam has been cleared by the Board of Professional Responsibility (BPR) following a two year investigation.

Coffee County District Attorney Craig Northcott was under investigation following comments in 2019 in which Northcott wrote on social media Islam was a "evil, violent and against God's truth" and likened being Muslim to "being part of the KKK, Aryan Nation, etc."

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He was also recorded in 2018 stating he did not believe in gay marriage and would not prosecute domestic violence crimes involving homosexual couples. According to a video which circulated in 2018 and prompted a letter from other attorneys calling for his resignation, Northcott stated "So the social engineers on the Supreme Court decided that we now have homosexual marriage.... I disagree with them. What do I do with domestic assaults? On one hand I don't prosecute them because I don't recognize it as marriage. On the other hand, if I don't prosecute them then the sinner—the immoral guy—gets less punishment. What do you do? Well the reason where I came down in my evaluation was the reason that there's extra punishment on domestic violence is to recognize and protect the sanctity of marriage. And I said there's no marriage to protect. So I don't prosecute them as domestics."

WATCH: Northcott 2018 Video on Church's Role in Government

Northcott, who refused to be censured by the BPR and challenged the ruling, now says the matter has been dropped after he was granted a motion to dismiss the complaint against him without appeal from the BPR. Northcott says he stands by his comments in a public statement, calling the investigation against him an "attack." "It was alleged that I am unfit to serve as District Attorney and to remain an attorney in Tennessee because I taught the Word of God regarding homosexuality from the pulpit of a church in Houston, Texas at a Bible conference primarily for pastors sponsored by a seminary as well as my expressing my thological belief regarding Islam while commenting on another individual's Facebook post in my personal capacity," Northcott writes. "Amazingly, this simple exercising of my God-given, constitutionally protected rights so upset certain groups of people that I made local, national, and international news and had to fight their efforts to have me disbarred for the last two years."

After fighting the investigation successfully, Northcott says the BPR never alleged the mishandling of a specific case and admitted under oath...they could not find a single case that I or my office mishandled."

Northcott thanked his supporters and called on his "Christian brethren" to "stand firm" against what he called attacks on belief. "Be courageous and bold in the face of the growing assault against us in this Country."

See the full letter below or CLICK HERE: