{"id":34803,"date":"2023-04-06T15:50:54","date_gmt":"2023-04-06T21:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-weighs-request-to-toss-chasing-horses-sex-abuse-case\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T08:21:02","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T08:21:02","slug":"judge-weighs-request-to-toss-chasing-horses-sex-abuse-case","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/judge-weighs-request-to-toss-chasing-horses-sex-abuse-case\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge weighs request to toss Chasing Horse\u2019s sex abuse case"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Nathan
Nathan Chasing Horse sits alone during a court hearing on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, in Las Vegas. The former \u201cDances With Wolves\u201d actor is accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls in the U.S. and Canada for decades. (Ty O'Neil\/The Associated Press)<\/span>Ty O<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>\n

LAS VEGAS \u2013 A former \u201cDances With Wolves\u201d actor accused of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls<\/a> in the U.S. and Canada for two decades has asked a judge in Nevada to toss out a sweeping indictment<\/a> against him in state court.<\/p>\n

Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, claims the sexual encounters with two women identified as victims in the Nevada case were consensual. One of them was younger than 16 \u2014 the age of consent in Nevada \u2014 when she says the sexual abuse began.<\/p>\n

Clark County District Court Judge Carli Kierny said Wednesday that she would issue her decision before the end of the week. She could deny Chasing Horse\u2019s request or dismiss some or all of the charges, although she didn\u2019t offer any indication as to how she might rule during her questioning of state prosecutors and Chasing Horse\u2019s public defender.<\/p>\n

A Clark County jury indicted Chasing Horse, 46, in February<\/a> on charges of sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping, child abuse, lewdness and drug trafficking. He has been in custody at a county jail since Jan. 31, when he was arrested by SWAT officers near the home he shared with his five wives in North Las Vegas.<\/p>\n

\"Clark
Clark County public defender Kristy Holston stands during a court hearing for Nathan Chasing Horse on Wednesday, April 5, 2023, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo\/Ty O'Neil).<\/span>Ty O<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

He also faces sexual abuse charges in Canada<\/a> and the U.S. District Court<\/a> in Nevada, as well as on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors and police say Chasing Horse, who is known for his portrayal of Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner\u2019s Oscar-winning film, marketed himself to tribes nationwide as a self-proclaimed medicine man who possessed healing powers and could communicate with higher beings. They accuse of him using his position to lead a cult<\/a> known as The Circle, gain access to vulnerable girls and women and take underage wives.<\/p>\n

The alleged crimes, according to court documents, date to the early 2000s and occurred in Canada and multiple U.S. states, including Nevada, Montana and South Dakota.<\/p>\n

\"Nathan
Nathan Chasing Horse stands in handcuffs in court in Las Vegas, on Monday, April 3. (Ty O'Neil\/The Asociated Press)<\/span>Ty O<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Clark County prosecutor Stacey Kollins told the judge Wednesday that Chasing Horse\u2019s claims were offensive, pointing to the age that one of the victims says the abuse began.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s taken at 14 because her mom is ill, and she\u2019s told that her virginity is the only pure part of her left and she has to sacrifice this to maintain her mom\u2019s health,\u201d Kollins said. \u201cAnd to gloss over that by calling it transactional and saying there\u2019s no proof of non-consent, that\u2019s taking a lot of license to meet with the facts.\u201d<\/p>\n

As Kollins spoke, the mother of one of the victims cried in the courtroom gallery, which was packed with Chasing Horse\u2019s supporters.<\/p>\n

Public defender Kristy Holston argued the 19-count indictment was an overreach by the Clark County district attorney\u2019s office and that some evidence presented to the grand jury \u2014 including a definition of grooming \u2014 had tainted the state\u2019s case.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the same as a lack of consent,\u201d she said, adding that \u201ca sex worker, for instance, doesn\u2019t desire sex with the client. But their motive for doing it is for something other than desire.\u201d<\/p>\n

Outside the courtroom, Holston declined to further comment, while Kollins did not immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking additional comment.<\/p>\n

Chasing Horse is currently scheduled to stand trial May 1 in the state case. He has pleaded not guilty and invoked his right to a trial within 60 days of his indictment.<\/p>\n

He is due back in state court Monday morning for a hearing on another motion asking the judge to grant him three trials. Chasing Horse and his attorneys have argued that the sexual assault allegations and the drug trafficking charge contained in the state\u2019s indictment are unrelated.<\/p>\n

\"Clark
Clark County District Judge Carli Kierny speaks with counsel in Las Vegas, on Monday, April 3, 2023. Kierny postponed the trial for Nathan Chasing Horse, the former \u201cDances With Wolves\u201d actor, indicted in state court on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls for a decade in the Las Vegas area. (AP Photo\/Ty O'Neil)<\/span>Ty O<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

for role in \u2018Dances with Wolves\u2019<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":34804,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[815],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-34803","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-associated-press-new-mexico"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34803","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=34803"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34803\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":82748,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/34803\/revisions\/82748"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/34804"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=34803"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=34803"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=34803"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=34803"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}