Conaway prison sentence extended

After two rape trials resulting in a six-year sentence, Clay Conaway’s last day in court April 27 ended with two-and-a-half years added to his prison time.

“I hope that gives you some comfort,” said Superior Court Judge Rob Robinson, although none of the four victims in Conaway’s plea deal were in court for the sentencing. “Today it’s all done.”

In 2022, Conaway pleaded guilty to third-degree rape for a May 2018 Dewey Beach attack. He also pleaded no contest to three other indictments, two of which happened when he was in high school. 

Robinson gave Conaway another two years for the third-degree charge and 180 days for the three no-contest pleas. Once out, he will be on probation for several years, and he must pay the Dewey Beach victim about $6,000 in restitution.

Conaway declined to speak during the sentencing.

Robinson apologized to the victims for the lengthy court process, explaining there were procedural issues involved.

According to a statement read by the Dewey Beach victim’s sister, the lengthy legal process revictimized the young woman who has been forced to relive her trauma at each step, and is now plagued by anxiety and panic attacks. 

“Not a day went by when I didn’t think my heart would beat out of my chest,” her sister read. “It feels impossible to describe who I was before.”

Deputy Attorney General Rebecca Anderson read statements from three other women. One of the women, who was in high school at the time, said she was shamed and forced to leave school after she went to police in 2014 about her attack.

“I was living through a living hell, only to have my case dropped,” the statement read.

Speaking about the 2014 incident, which was investigated by police at the time but dropped, Robinson opined that maybe if the case had been prosecuted, Conaway’s behavior would have changed. “You should have been on notice,” he said.

After reading information from all six cases, Robinson said he was struck by the similarity of Conaway’s conduct in all the cases, and there were moments when Conaway seemed to understand what he was doing was wrong. “You had awareness, but you went out and did it again,” Robinson said. “When you look at the big picture, you really see a pattern.”

Conaway was 22 when he was first indicted by a grand jury in 2018 on a first-degree rape charge involving a young woman who said Conaway raped her at his Georgetown home. That case was soon followed by indictments involving five other women who also claimed Conaway raped them. 

He was sentenced to five years of prison in 2019 after a jury in the first-degree rape trial found him guilty of a lesser charge of fourth-degree rape. He has been serving his sentence at Sussex Correctional Institution since. 

Another year was added after his second trial, in which a jury found him guilty of misdemeanor third-degree unlawful sexual contact, a lesser charge from the original second-degree rape charge. 

Conaway is described as a model prisoner who helps tutor other inmates and is active in the sex offender program at Sussex Correctional Institution. Robinson said the counselor there believes Conaway has had a breakthrough in his treatment, and a letter written by Conaway acknowledges his wrongdoing.

“I think he has greater insights on what he did,” Robinson said.

Conaway’s attorney Joe Hurley declined to comment following the sentencing.