Neo-Nazi gets 3.5 years for role in beating death of gay Phoenix man

On Monday in Maricopa County Superior Court, neo-Nazi skinhead Cory Young was sentenced to 3 1/2 years in prison for his part in the August 2023 beating death of Jake Kelly, a 49-year-old gay man with whom Young and his wife had been living in north Phoenix.

The sentence was part of a plea deal struck in November, wherein the 45-year-old Young, a violent ex-con whose body is festooned with racist tattoos, pleaded guilty to a Class 3 felony for hindering the police investigation into the incident.

Before Judge Daniel Martin pronounced the sentence, Jake’s mother, Jan Kelly, addressed the court, calling Young a “monster” who had been “arrested and imprisoned” for violent crimes in the past, including “vicious” beatdowns Young meted out to others while incarcerated.

“I know we haven’t convicted Cory of murder,” she told the court, calling the sentencing a “done deal,” but she hoped that one day he would be put away for a longer period of time “so he can’t do this to anyone else.”

Young, a hulking presence in a long-sleeved dress shirt, looked on menacingly as Jan Kelly described the loss of her son, who had been beaten so badly that his throat was crushed and his jaw “pulverized.” She said that after she arrived at his hospital bedside, he never regained full consciousness, dying from his injuries on Sept. 8, 2023.

“I will never hear his voice again,” she said. She blamed Young and his wife, Shannon, for not calling 911 and waiting until the next day, after they bathed him, to take her son to the hospital. Jan Kelly said the couple “didn’t want the police involved.”

Judge Martin could have sentenced Young to probation or up to two to 8 3/4 years in prison, but the judge said that the presumptive term of 3 1/2 years was “appropriate,” giving Young credit for 184 days of presentence incarceration.

Shannon Young, 37, was sentenced to probation in December after pleading guilty earlier last year to hindering prosecution. She was in court and sat expressionless as her husband was placed in handcuffs and taken away by sheriff’s deputies to begin serving his term.

A third man, 35-year-old Angel Mullooly, faces a charge of second-degree murder in Jake Kelly’s killing. A scheduling hearing for Mullooly's trial has been put off till Feb. 26, according to court documents.

Outside the court, wiping away tears, Jan Kelly blamed the Phoenix Police Department for justice not being done for her son.

“They didn’t want this case,” she claimed, adding that the police department “failed miserably” in its investigation and that her son was “just some gay guy” to them.