Former University of Delaware pitcher Clay Conaway, who faced five rape charges against four women, accepted a plea deal in Sussex County on Wednesday.
The 26-year-old, handcuffed and wearing prison clothing, stood alongside his attorney and pleaded guilty to third-degree rape and no contest to several other charges.
He was accused of raping six women between 2013 and 2018. He was convicted and sentenced to charges in relation to two other women. Wednesday’s plea wraps up the cases against him.
In Conaway’s first trial, in 2019, he was found guilty of fourth-degree rape from a 2018 incident that took place at his Georgetown home. He was sentenced to five years in prison in that case.
Conaway was found guilty of unlawful sexual contact, a misdemeanor, in his second trial, related to a 2017 incident in his Newark home. A judge sentenced him to a year in prison in that case.
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The remaining cases all took place in Sussex County.
Third-degree rape carries a mandatory sentence of at least two years in prison. The state plans to ask for four years, Conaway’s attorney Joe Hurley said, while he plans to argue for two. The judge can issue a prison sentence of up to 25 years. The state is not planning to ask for additional prison time on the lesser charges.
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Sentencing is scheduled for June.
“Today brings to a close the last of six convictions for a serial rapist,” Attorney General Kathy Jennings said in a statement following Wednesday’s hearing.
“We are endlessly grateful to the survivors for their courage coming forward — especially those who withstood outdated and unacceptable victim-shaming. Those survivors are the reason justice has arrived today, and why their attacker will remain in prison for years to come.”
