Clay Conaway sentenced to 5 years in prison on rape conviction

Former University of Delaware baseball player Clay Conaway was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday after being found guilty of fourth-degree rape.

The 23-year-old Georgetown resident is facing additional rape accusations from five other women for incidents from 2013 to 2018. He was found guilty in this first rape case after a two-week trial in September.

He was also sentenced to one year of home confinement and two years of probation with GPS monitoring upon his release from prison. He will also have to undergo treatment, pay restitution and register as a sex offender.

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He was originally indicted on a charge of first-degree rape with injury for an incident that happened in summer 2018, but the jury found him guilty of the lesser charge after a few hours of deliberation.

Fourth-degree rape is sexual penetration with an object or body part other than a penis and without the victim's consent. In this case, the objects were fingers.

His conviction came with a maximum sentence of up to 15 years in prison, with no minimum prison time required.

During the hourlong sentencing, the court heard arguments from the defense that Conaway should get no additional prison time and the state, which argued he should get at least eight years behind bars.

“I have been traumatized by the crime, the trial and the publicity,” the young woman victim said as her mother stood by her side. She said she “chose to stand tall” for other cases that go unreported and “to give others the strength to report crimes against them.”

The woman said she suffers from anxiety, sleepless nights and at one point considered dropping out of school.

“I was raped,” she told the court Friday. “I was violated in the most personal way possible. I was injured. My world shattered that day. I left broken. I carried this burden for months, and I will carry it for the rest of my life. I am not fine, and the path to healing will be long and difficult.”

After the hearing, Conaway's attorney Joe Hurley strongly criticized arguments made by state prosecutor Rebecca Anderson, in which she pointed to comments made by Conaway and his parents, a retired state trooper and a Sussex County school administrator, to demonstrate what the state saw as a lack of remorse and possibly learned attitudes.

“Arguing that the defendant is so attractive that girls flock to him and he can’t help it. … This is not a defense to rape. It’s an excuse,” Anderson said.

Hurley said he was “horrified” that Anderson implicitly blamed Conaway’s parents for his actions.

“There’s no excuse for that,” Hurley said. “Why would you do that to a parent?”

Conaway's second trial is scheduled to begin on Dec. 2 in Sussex County Superior Court. He faces a charge of second-degree rape in that case.

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Between the trial and sentencing, a motion was filed in Conaway’s cases to limit publicity. The order prohibits lawyers on both sides of the case, as well as investigators, police officers and other people connected to the case with speaking publicly on other cases, except as allowed by the state’s professional code of conduct for lawyers.

Conaway's attorneys also tried to delay sentencing in this case until after the second trial, but that effort was rejected by the court.

Sussex Superior Court Richard Stokes sentenced Conaway to 15 years in prison, the maximum allowable by law, but suspended that sentence after Conaway spends five years behind bars. He also will get credit for the 63 days he has already spent in prison.

"At the end of the day, he knew better and unlawfully had his way with the victim to gratify himself," Stokes said.

Contact reporter Maddy Lauria at (302) 345-0608, mlauria@delawareonline.com or on Twitter @MaddyinMilford.