LAS VEGAS (AP) — The seven-member Nevada Supreme Court has ruled against Nathan Chasing Horse, who accuses him of leading a cult, taking underage wives and sexually abusing Native American women and girls. The court will reconsider his request to dismiss the wide-ranging indictment.
This is the latest in a long series of lawsuits by the former “Dances with Wolves” actor, whose proceedings in 18 criminal cases (one of 47 years of criminal proceedings) in Nevada state court have been stalled for nearly a year. This is the latest development in a series of legal challenges. Old throughout the United States and Canada.
Chasing Horse pleads not guilty in Nevada sexual abuse case
Chasing Horse remains in custody at the Las Vegas County Jail pending his legal battle. He has pleaded not guilty to charges in Nevada of sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse.
Nathan Chasing Horse stands in a North Las Vegas courtroom on February 8, 2023. The seven-member Nevada Supreme Court seeks to dismiss a sweeping indictment accusing Chasing Horse of leading a cult, taking underage wives, and sexually abusing Native American women and girls. We plan to reconsider the claim. (AP Photo/Ty O’Neal)
The court’s 4-3 decision to reexamine Chasing Horse’s claims comes after a three-judge panel declined to retry him after upholding the sexual abuse case last December. This is to revoke the order. The seven-member court did not immediately set a date to hear additional arguments or say when it would rule.
Chasing Horse’s attorneys had argued that the Nevada lawsuit should be dismissed because the sexual encounter was consensual. According to the indictment, one of the accusers was under 16, the age of consent in Nevada, when the abuse began.
Deputy Public Defender Christy Holston also argued that some of the evidence prosecutors presented to the grand jury, including the definition of grooming, tainted the state’s case.
Mr. Halston declined to comment Tuesday.
Chasing Horse is best known for playing Smiles-A-Lot in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves. In the decades since his appearance in the Oscar-winning film, he has become a self-proclaimed tribal shaman, traveling throughout North America performing healing rituals, authorities said.
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He is accused of using his position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women since the early 2000s.
After a month-long investigation, Las Vegas police arrested Chasing Horse in January 2023 and raided his North Las Vegas home where he allegedly lived with his five wives. The arrest stunned Indian Country and authorities said it helped law enforcement in both countries confirm longstanding suspicions against the former actor.
