las vegas — Prosecutors say Nathan Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on and sexually assault Indigenous women and girls, while his defense attorney said during Opening statements In his trial on Tuesday, the former actor was falsely accused.
Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances With Wolves,” Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 charges, including sexual assault and sexual assault of a minor.
The trial marks the culmination of a years-long effort to prosecute Chasing Horse after he was first arrested and charged in 2023 in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country. “Dances With Wolves” was one of the most prominent films depicting Native Americans when it premiered in 1990. Its trial also comes as authorities have responded more strongly in recent years to an epidemic of violence against Native women.
Wearing a blue tie and black suit with his hair pulled back, he sat quietly and took notes as his family sat in the back row of the crowded Las Vegas courtroom.
Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, which is home to the Sicango Sioux Tribe, one of the Seven Tribes of the Lakota Nation. After starring in the Oscar-winning film, Chasing Horse traveled throughout North America performing healing ceremonies, according to prosecutors.
Prosecutors said Chasing Horse sexually assaulted two victims who were 14 and 19 at the time. In 2012, he allegedly told the 14-year-old girl that spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who had been diagnosed with cancer. He then sexually assaulted her and told her that if she told anyone, her mother would die, Clark County Deputy Prosecutor Bianca Bucci said.
“She wanted to appease the spirits,” she said, referring to the 14-year-old girl. “She wanted to appease the medicine man.”
Craig Mueller, Chasing Horse’s defense attorney, said prosecutors will present no evidence for the allegations, including a lack of DNA or eyewitness evidence.
Pucci showed photos of Chasing Horse with the 14-year-old, who met Chasing Horse when she was 6 and played a respected role in Lakota ceremonies as a pipe girl. Pucci said Chasing Horse symbolically adopted her and considered him a grandfather.
Chasing Horse, who was 36 at the time, took the 14-year-old on a road trip to attend various celebrations, Pucci said. Bucci said he repeatedly sexually assaulted her in hotel rooms, and asked her to tattoo a spider on her arms and hands to remind her not to tell anyone. Chasing Horse also has a spider tattoo on his neck.
Bucci told jurors Chasing Horse got her “caught in his web.”
The 14-year-old and her mother moved from California to North Las Vegas to live with Chasing Horse and his multiple wives. There, Bucci said, Chasing Horse continued to sexually abuse her before she and her family found another place to live.
In 2014, when she was 16, she returned to live with him and his wives. At age 18, Pucci said, she changed her last name to his, convinced that Chasing Horse was doing a good job and protecting her mother, who had recovered from cancer.
Mueller likened the woman to an angry wife, saying she made false claims and lived happily with the Chasing Horse for five years.
Mueller said prosecutors made Chasing Horse look like a monster, when in fact he was highly respected. He showed the jury photos, including a family photo with Chasing Horse and his wives, as well as photos of Chasing Horse at powwows. “Just like any family,” Mueller added.
“This is not an outsider who generally takes advantage of children,” Mueller said.
Prosecutors will show the jury a video to support their claims, Bucci said.
She said jurors will also hear from another victim who was 19 when Chasing Horse sexually assaulted her. She has also known him since she was a child through ceremonies.
“I felt like he was a protector, a medicine man, part of the Lakota culture,” Pucci said.
The Associated Press typically does not name people who say they have been sexually assaulted or abused.