LAS VEGAS — Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse is about to face trial early subsequent yr in Las Vegas on expenses that he sexually abused Indigenous girls and women, a big improvement within the sweeping felony case after greater than a yr of stalled court docket proceedings whereas he challenged it.
His trial in Clark County District Court docket is at the moment scheduled to start on Jan. 13, court docket data present. He pleaded not responsible on Wednesday to 21 felonies, together with sexual assault, kidnapping and producing and possessing movies of kid sexual abuse, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.
Prosecutors are actually capable of transfer ahead with their case as a result of Chasing Horse was once more indicted final month following a Nevada Supreme Court docket determination that his unique indictment be dismissed. The excessive court docket’s order left open the likelihood for the fees to be refiled, and prosecutors rapidly took their case earlier than one other grand jury.
ALSO READ: Sean ‘Diddy’ Combs accused of sexual assault by six individuals in new lawsuits
The excessive court docket stated in its September order that prosecutors had abused the grand jury course of once they supplied a definition of grooming as proof of Chasing Horse’s alleged crimes with none knowledgeable testimony. However the justices additionally made clear of their ruling that their determination was not weighing in on Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence, saying the allegations in opposition to him are severe.
Article continues after this commercial
Finest recognized for portraying the character Smiles A Lot within the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is house to the Sicangu Sioux, one of many seven tribes of the Lakota nation.
Article continues after this commercial
After starring within the Oscar-winning movie, based on prosecutors, Chasing Horse started selling himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medication man whereas touring round North America to carry out therapeutic ceremonies.
Prosecutors stated he used his authority to achieve entry to weak girls and women for many years till his arrest in January close to Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since.
Chasing Horse’s arrest reverberated round Indian Nation as regulation enforcement within the U.S. and Canada rapidly adopted up with extra felony expenses. In Montana, authorities there stated his arrest helped corroborate long-standing allegations in opposition to him on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders banished Chasing Horse from the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.
His newest indictment in Las Vegas contains new allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself having intercourse with one in all his accusers when she was youthful than 14. Prosecutors have stated the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was discovered on cellphones in a locked protected contained in the North Las Vegas house that Chasing Horse is alleged to have shared with 5 wives, together with the lady within the movies.