Lawsuit in Nevada against ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor in revived sex abuse case

On November 14, 2024By Pranco

LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse will go on trial in Las Vegas early next year on charges of sexually abusing indigenous women and girls, a major development in the U.S. the major criminal case after more than a year of stalled legal proceedings while he challenged it.

His trial in Clark County District Court is currently scheduled to begin Jan. 13, court records show. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 21 crimes, including sexual assault, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.

Prosecutors can now move forward with their case because Chasing Horse was charged again last month following a decision by the Nevada Supreme Court that his original complaint is dismissed. The Supreme Court’s order left open the possibility of refiling the charges, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.

The Supreme Court said in its September order that prosecutors abused the grand jury process by offering a definition of “grooming” as evidence for Chasing Horse’s alleged crimes without any expert testimony. But the judges also made clear in their ruling that their decision had no bearing on Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence, saying the charges against him are serious.

Chasing Horse, best known for playing the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves,” was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota -nation.

After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-styled Lakota medicine man as he traveled across North America performing healing ceremonies.

Prosecutors said he used his authority to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades, until his arrest in January near Las Vegas. He has been in prison ever since.

Chasing Horse’s arrest reverberated across Indian Country as law enforcement officials across the U.S. and… Canada soon followed by more criminal charges. In Montana, authorities there said his arrest helped confirm long-standing accusations against him on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders banished Chasing Horse from the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.

His latest indictment in Las Vegas includes new allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was under 14 years old. Prosecutors have said the images, taken in 2010 or 2011, were found on cellphones in a locked safe at the prison. The North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse allegedly shared with five women, including the girl in the videos.