Court modifies Conaway’s bond to allow construction work

A Sussex County Superior Court judge has allowed Clay Conaway to work construction with his father.

In a bond hearing held March 28, Judge Richard Stokes modified Conaway’s bond in order to let him work with his father’s construction business.

Conaway, 22, of Georgetown, faces several counts of first- and second-degree rape, and he has been out on $310,000 secured bond. Conaway was first indicted Aug. 20 on first-degree rape; on Sept. 24 he was indicted on six new counts of second-degree rape.

Conaway’s attorney Joseph Hurley - clad in dark glasses in recovery from cataract surgery - asked to relax bond conditions that Conaway cannot work for a family member and cannot leave the family’s main residence. Conaway was bailed out after the family put up property as collateral; Stokes said there were several buildings on the property. Hurley’s motion requested that Conaway be allowed to work for his father off-site as long as he remained under his father’s supervision.

Conaway’s probation officer, Hunter Whitman, said Conaway is working for a third-party construction contractor, which helps give independent verification that he is actually working. However, Whitman said, as long as there is written verification of Conaway’s work, combined with GPS monitoring, he would accept Conaway working for his father.

Deputy Attorney General Casey Ewart said the state did not have a problem with amending the bond conditions as long as Conaway remained on home confinement during nonwork hours.