Defence rests in trial of former athlete accused of rapes

GEORGETOWN, Del. – Defence attorneys rested their case Wednesday in the rape trial of a former University of Delaware baseball player accused of multiple sexual assaults.

After concluding testimony by a police detective, the judge presiding over the trial of 23-year-old Clay Conaway denied a defence motion for acquittal. Conaway’s attorneys argued that prosecutors had not presented sufficient evidence for the jury to consider whether his accuser was injured during their June 2018 encounter.

Jury deliberations will begin after closing arguments Thursday.

The 21-year-old woman has accused Conaway of raping her after she drove to his house. Before going to the house in June 2018, she texted friends that she believed Conaway wanted to have sex with her. The encounter came three weeks after the woman and Conaway connected on the online meeting site Bumble.

She is among six women whom Conaway is accused of sexually assaulting between 2013 and 2018.