By JESSICA HILL
LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada jury on Friday convicted “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting a minor.
The jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty of multiple charges of sexual assault. He was acquitted on other sexual assault charges.
He had pleaded not guilty to all 21 charges and his defense attorneys said he was falsely accused. Prosecutors said Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls. Most of the guilty verdicts returned by the jury centered on Chasing Horse’s conduct with a victim who was 14 years old when Chasing Horse began assaulting her.
The verdicts mark the climax of a yearslong effort to prosecute Chasing Horse after he was first arrested and indicted in 2023 in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country.
As the verdict was read, Chasing Horse stood quietly. Victims and their supporters cried and hugged in the hallway while wearing yellow ribbons.
“Dances With Wolves” was one of the most prominent films featuring Native American actors when it premiered in 1990. After Chasing Horse appeared in the Oscar-winning film, he traveled across North America and performed healing ceremonies.
His trial came as authorities have responded more in recent years to an epidemic of violence against Native women.
During the three-week trial, jurors heard from three women who say Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them, some of whom were underage at the time.
Clark County Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci said in her closing statements Wednesday that for almost 20 years, Chasing Horse “spun a web of abuse” that caught many women.
Defense attorney Craig Mueller said in his closing statements there was no evidence, including eyewitnesses. He questioned the main accuser’s credibility, describing her as a “scorned woman.”
Prosecutors said sexual assault cases rarely have eyewitnesses and often happen behind closed doors.
The main accuser was 14 years old in 2012 when Chasing Horse allegedly told her the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. He then sexually assaulted her and told her that if she told anyone, her mother would die, Pucci said during opening statements.
