Conaway case heads to trial

The case of a former University of Delaware baseball player accused of first-degree rape will go to trial beginning Tuesday, Sept. 10, in Delaware Superior Court in Georgetown.

Clay Conaway, 23, of Georgetown, rejected final plea offers from the state Sept. 4. He will be represented at trial by attorneys Joe Hurley and Natalie Woloshin. The lead prosecutor on the case will be Deputy Attorney General Casey Ewart. Conaway has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

Conaway was originally charged with six counts of second-degree rape, one count of first-degree rape, one count of strangulation and one count of attempted second-degree rape. Judge Richard F. Stokes has ruled that Conaway will face separate trials for each of the six women who have accused Conaway of raping them. The first trial will be on the first-degree rape charge.

Stokes ruled that while there is a pattern of repetition in all the charges, there is no common plan or scheme linking them. Two of the charges of second-degree rape date back to 2013 and 2014, respectively. The state had wanted a jury to hear all the charges together. Hurley attempted to have the 2013 and 2014 charges dismissed, but Stokes denied that motion. Conaway was arrested in August 2018 on charges of sexually assaulting a 20-year-old woman, with additional charges filed in September 2018. 

Conaway has been free on bond since charges were filed; his bond was modified in March to allow him to work for his father’s construction firm.