Nevada court orders dismissal of Chasing Horse sexual abuse case but says charges may be repeated Achi-News

The Nevada Supreme Court has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling sexual abuse indictment against Nathan Chasing Horse, while leaving open the possibility of refiling charges in a case that sent shock waves across parts of Canada and the United States.

Proceedings in the 18-count criminal case have been stalled for more than a year while the first Dances with Wolves actor was challenged. The full decision of the seven-member court, announced on Thursday, overturns earlier rulings upholding the charges by a three-member panel of the high 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 evidence to the grand jury that could have cast doubt on the allegations against Chasing Horse, including what he described as inconsistent statements made by one of the victims.

The high court agreed.

“The combination of these two clear errors undermines our confidence in the grand jury case and has caused intolerable damage to the independent function of the grand jury process,” the court said in its scathing order.

The ruling directs the judge overseeing the case in Clark County District Court to dismiss the indictment without prejudice, meaning charges against Chasing Horse can be refiled. But the dismissal order will not take effect immediately, as prosecutors also have the option to ask the high court to reconsider within 25 days.

“The allegations against Chasing Horse are undeniably serious, and we express no opinion as to the guilt or innocence of Chasing Horse,” the order states.

Holston declined to comment. District Attorney Steve Wolfson, in a statement Thursday, described the court’s decision as “just a small setback.”

“My office is committed to resurrecting the charges in this case,” Wolfson said, “and we will not rest until we get justice for the victims in this matter.”

Chasing Horse is accused of sexually assaulting a minor, kidnapping and child abuse. He has pleaded not guilty.

The 48-year-old man has been in custody since he was arrested last January near the North Las Vegas home he is said to have shared with five wives. He is unlikely to be released from custody, even after the high court’s decision, because he faces charges in at least four other jurisdictions, including the US District Court in Nevada and on the Fort Indian Reservation Peck in Montana.

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Chasing Horse is best known for portraying Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film Dances with Wolves. But in the decades since he starred in the Oscar-winning film, authorities say, he built a reputation as a self-proclaimed medicine man among tribes and traveled around North America to perform healing ceremonies.

He is 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. Authorities have said that one of the women was offered to Chasing Horse as a “gift” when she was 15, while another “became a wife” after turning 16.

Chasing Horse has also been accused of recording sexual assaults and arranging sex with the victims for other men he allegedly paid.

His legal issues have been developing at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the United States are channeling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and murder. 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.

& copy 2024 The Associated Press