Jonathan “Cody” Mason had no criminal record before bizarre encounters with the law involving a mule and a raccoon brought him national notoriety and several misdemeanor convictions. Cowboy hat in hand, the Murray man made his first appearance in Calloway Circuit Court Monday, where he was arraigned on a felony charge of methamphetamine possession.
Represented by public defender Victoria Wright, Mason entered a not guilty plea to charges of first-degree possession of a controlled substance (methamphetamine), possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia before Calloway Circuit Judge Andrea Moore.
Mason is scheduled to return to court for a status hearing at 8:30 a.m. Monday, Aug. 17.
The drug case grew out of unfinished business from Mason’s first encounters with the law. Although the allegations are otherwise unrelated, deputies encountered him May 6 while serving a bench warrant in the mule cases.
Mason’s legal troubles began in December 2024 with two arrests in two days. The second turned into a police pursuit as he rode his mule down Fourth Street – a scene captured in videos that quickly went viral.
Six months later, Mason was arrested again after throwing a live raccoon into the Big Apple Grill and Bar, where an employee was bitten. A felony assault charge was later amended, and Mason pleaded guilty to resisting arrest, second-degree wanton endangerment and second-degree criminal trespassing, all misdemeanors.
The cases were resolved in January, when the court imposed suspended jail sentences, placed Mason under standard conditions for two years and ordered him to pay $1,999 in fines and court costs within 90 days.
At Mason’s January sentencing, his attorney said the suspended jail time gave him a reason to follow the court’s orders.
“He still has a lot of time hanging over his head,” Mason’s attorney Mitch Ryan told The Sentinel at the time. “So, he’s got some incentive to act right.”
Four months later, Calloway District Judge Randall Hutchens issued a bench warrant after Mason failed to appear for a May 1 show cause hearing over the unpaid balance. Deputies served the warrant May 6 and alleged they found methamphetamine, marijuana and drug paraphernalia on Mason.
He paid the remaining $254 the following day.
Mason’s appearances in the case have carried some of the eccentricity associated with his public persona. At his preliminary hearing in district court on June 3, when Hutchens found probable cause and bound the case over to the grand jury, he attempted to bring his dog into the courtroom. For his circuit court arraignment, he carried a cowboy hat to the defense podium.
Meanwhile, a civil case brought against Mason by Cody Martin, the Big Apple employee bitten by the raccoon, is set for a bench trial next week. Moore entered a default judgment against Mason in March after he failed to file any responsive pleadings in the case.
Attorney Chris Hendricks, who represents Martin, requested the bench trial at a hearing last month, arguing that, while Martin was awarded damages in the default judgment, no monetary value was determined. Moore will hear the case at 1 p.m. Monday, July 13.
Individuals charged with crimes are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law, and allegations in civil lawsuits only reflect one party’s interpretation of events.
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