Attorneys focus on inconsistencies during defense portion of Conaway rape trial

Witnesses testifying in the attempted rape trial of a former University of Delaware baseball player highlighted inconsistencies in the statements of the woman Clay Conaway is charged with trying to rape and choke.

In a trial already rife with contention, Newark Police Detective Paul Keld also testified Tuesday that he allowed the victim's mother to interject facts he had not brought out of the victim during the initial police interview. Keld's admission in the single day of defense testimony comes after accusations the victim had been coached by her parents, both of whom are attorneys. 

While he did not stop the mother from interjecting, Keld testified that the mother was "not driving the interview."

Keld was the defense's fourth and final witness. Conaway's attorneys rested the case and jurors are expected to return Wednesday morning for closing arguments. 

Conaway, 23, has pleaded not guilty to attempted rape and strangulation in the current case, which is brought by one of six women accusing him of sex crimes in court. 

On Tuesday, inconsistencies brought up by Conaway’s attorneys centered on their client's bedroom where the woman said the former UD pitcher pinned her to a bed, tried to reach into her pants and strangled her as she resisted in November 2017.

During testimony last week, the woman testified she focused on a crack in the ceiling as Conaway attacked her. But on Tuesday, Conaway’s father and witness said a black flag or tapestry was tacked to the ceiling above his son's bed. 

The woman had also said there were no pets in Conaway's bedroom. But two witnesses, Conaway's father and mother, said their son had a working fish tank and a hamster named Noise because it was not a quiet rodent. 

There also was mention of how Conaway would bite his nails to the quick – essentially removing the white portion of his nails. Conaway had been doing that since he was 4 years old. 

This could be used to contradict the woman's testimony that she was scratched by Conaway during the assault. 

The woman's testimony is the primary evidence of strangulation and attempted rape charges against Conaway.

Accuser speaks: Over days, Conaway accuser details basis of current attempted rape trial

While he has pleaded not guilty to these charges, he was convicted of fourth-degree rape last year in the first of what could be six trials in total. Like the first trial, the accuser in the current proceeding said she met Conaway online.

She was a university undergraduate and told the jury Conaway's Tinder dating app profile was "wholesome," featuring pictures of his family. They matched and their subsequent messages contained "nothing flirty," no "fireworks going back and forth" and no mention of sex, she said.

The same day, he invited her to Deer Park Tavern on Main Street in Newark for the Tuesday specials. She wasn't old enough to enter the bar, so he invited her to his place to "watch a movie, just chill."

"I trusted him," she said.

She said she had no intention of becoming physical with Conaway. 

She lived less than a five-minute walk from his Continental Avenue home, which a detective said was known as the "baseball house.” Conaway, as well as other men in the house, were wearing university baseball outfits, she recalled.

But a defense witness, UD Assistant Equipment Manager Peter Stevens, testified on Tuesday that none of the baseball uniforms were supposed to go home with the players. He did add that it sometimes occurred.

Prosecutors showed a picture of Conaway wearing a shirt that said Delaware baseball, but his father said that particular shirt could have been purchased at a bookstore or the the National 5 & 10 store located on Newark's Main Street because it was not a team jersey. 

The woman also testified last week that she was led directly upstairs to his room where they sat on sofas, talked about relationships, sports and music. She described herself as "very into music" so she asked him if there is an artist he particularly disliked.

"Without hesitation," she recalled. "He said every female country artist ever."

Conaway's father said from the stand Tuesday that his son likes country music, along with other types, as well.

Conaway convicted:Clay Conaway sentenced to 5 years in prison on rape conviction

Coaching

Accusations of witness coaching have surfaced most days of the trial. 

On Thursday, the accusing witness' father appeared to faint when being asked by Judge Richard Stokes about potential coaching of witnesses via his cell phone.

On Friday, Natalie Woloshin, Conaway's former attorney who was spectating at this trial, told Stokes she heard the mother screaming in the presence of the accusing witness in a small conference room outside the courtroom during the lunch break. 

On Monday, Conaway's cousin, who has attended each day of the trial, told Stokes she overheard the accusing witness say on Friday: "I didn't know what to say. I didn't know what to do." 

"Her mother seemed frustrated with her daughter," the woman told Stokes. 

She did not hear any other pieces of their conversation. 

On both occasions, Stokes called Jennifer Zeroles, a Department of Justice social worker, to the stand. Zeroles is assigned to the woman accusing Conaway and part of her job is to ensure the witness is not being coached. 

She testified that she was with the accuser and her mother during the entirety of Friday's lunchbreak and said no coaching occurred. 

"She was pretty upset," Zeroles said. 

Joe Hurley, one of Conaway's defense attorneys, asked the accuser's mother outright and she denied coaching her daughter. 

Contact Xerxes Wilson at (302) 324-2787 or xwilson@delawareonline.com. Follow @Ber_Xerxes on Twitter.Contact Esteban Parra at (302) 324-2299, eparra@delawareonline.com or Twitter @eparra3.