Federal prosecutors quietly dismiss Chasing Horse's long-dormant sex
abuse case
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[October 08, 2024]
By RIO YAMAT
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Federal prosecutors in Nevada have quietly dismissed a
long-dormant sex abuse case against Nathan Chasing Horse, though the
former “Dances with Wolves" actor still faces criminal charges
elsewhere.
The federal case was tossed Oct. 1, just as state prosecutors were
finalizing the dismissal of their own indictment against Chasing Horse
under an order from the Nevada Supreme Court.
The back-to-back dismissals are a stunning development for a legal saga
that began with Las Vegas police arresting Chasing Horse and raiding his
home last January, leading to the state's 18-count indictment in Clark
County District Court.
His arrest, which sent shockwaves throughout Indian Country, was quickly
followed by more criminal charges in four other jurisdictions in the
U.S. and Canada. That includes the now-dismissed federal case accusing
him of sexually exploiting minors and possessing child sexual abuse
material, charges that stemmed from the same allegations that led to his
arrest.
Chasing Horse still faces criminal charges in Canada, on the Fort Peck
Indian Reservation in Montana, and in Las Vegas.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film
“Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation
in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven
tribes of the Lakota nation.
In the decades since starring in the Oscar-winning movie, authorities
say he built a reputation as a self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes
and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies.
He’s accused of using that position to gain access to vulnerable girls
and women starting in the early 2000s, leading a cult and taking
underage wives.
Federal prosecutors took no action in their case against Chasing Horse
after filing the charges in February 2023, court records show. They
moved to dismiss the case on Sept. 27 — a day after the Nevada high
court ordered the dismissal of Chasing Horse's indictment in state court
— but did not detail in court filings why they wanted to dismiss the
case.
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Nathan Chasing Horse is led out of the courtroom after being
arraigned at North Las Vegas Justice Court, Feb. 2, 2023. (Bizuayehu
Tesfaye/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP, File)
Both the state and federal cases
were dismissed without prejudice, meaning prosecutors can refile the
charges. Federal prosecutor Steven Rose didn't immediately respond
to an email Monday asking if the U.S. government intends to do so.
Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson has said his office
will refile the charges in state court, which included sexual
assault of a minor, kidnapping and child abuse.
State prosecutors on Friday filed a new case in Las Vegas against
Chasing Horse that accuses him of filming himself having sex with
one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. He is being held
in the custody of Las Vegas police on $200,000 bail.
In at least one video, the girl was “fully passed out," prosecutor
William Rowles said Monday in court.
Rowles said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, were found on
cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that
Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the
girl in the videos.
His defense attorney, Kristy Holston, declined to comment on the new
case or the dismissal of the federal charges. Rowles also said he
had no comment.
The Nevada Supreme Court in late September sided with Chasing Horse,
after his attorney successfully argued that a definition of grooming
— presented to the grand jury without expert testimony — had tainted
the state's case, and that prosecutors should have shared with the
grand jury inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.
Chasing Horse has been jailed in Las Vegas since his arrest last
January. But the case had been at a standstill for more than a year
while he challenged it.
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