Nevada high court orders dismissal of Chasing Horse sex abuse case but says charges can be refiled
LAS VEGAS– The Nevada Supreme Court ordered the dismissal an extensive accusation of sexual abuse against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility that charges will be filed again in a case that sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country and led to more criminal charges in the U.S. and Canada.
Procedure in the Criminal case with 18 points have been on hiatus for more than a year as the former ‘Dances with Wolves’ actor challenged it. The ruling by the seven-member court, issued on Thursday, reverses previous rulings upholding the charges by a three-judge panel of the Supreme Court and a state judge.
Kristy Holston, the chief deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued that a definition of grooming presented to the grand jury without expert testimony tainted the state’s case. Holston said prosecutors also failed to provide the grand jury with evidence that could have cast doubt on the allegations against Chasing Horse, including what she described as inconsistent statements from one of the victims.
The Supreme Court agreed.
“The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury process and causes intolerable harm to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing ruling.
The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the charges without prejudice, meaning the charges against Chasing Horse can be refiled. But the dismissal order won’t take effect immediately because prosecutors also have the option to ask the Supreme Court to reconsider within 25 days.
“The allegations against Chasing Horse are undeniably serious, and we express no opinion as to Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order said.
Holston declined to comment. District Attorney Steve Wolfson described the court’s decision in a statement Thursday as “just a minor setback.”
“My office is committed to reviving the charges in this case,” Wolfson said, “and we will not rest until we obtain justice on behalf of the victims in this case.”
Chasing Horse is charged with sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.
The 48-year-old has been in custody near the North Las Vegas home he allegedly shared with five women since his arrest last January. He is unlikely to be released even after the Supreme Court ruling as he faces charges in at least four cases other jurisdictionsincluding the U.S. District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.
Chasing Horse is best known for playing Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves.” But in the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning film, he built a reputation as a self-described medicine man among the tribes and traveled through North America performing healing ceremonies.
He is accused of using this position to gain access to vulnerable girls and women from the early 2000s. leading a cult and taking underage wives. Authorities have said one of the women was presented to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15, while another “became a woman” after she turned 16.
Chasing Horse is also accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men who allegedly paid him.
His legal troubles are unfolding at the same time as lawmakers and prosecutors in the US deploy more resources in cases involving indigenous women, including human trafficking and murders. Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.