Following the trial<\/a>, Chasing Horse\u2019s attorney Craig Mueller filed a motion for a new trial, arguing a witness was not qualified to talk about grooming and that the statute of limitations had expired. That motion was denied.<\/p>\nThe sentencing wraps a yearslong effort to prosecute the former actor after he was first arrested and indicted in 2023. That initial arrest reverberated around Indian Country, with law enforcement in other states and Canada following up with more criminal charges.<\/p>\n
Charges pending in Canada<\/h2>\n
The British Columbia Prosecution Service said Chasing Horse was charged with sexual assault in February 2023, though the date of the alleged offense took place in September 2018 near Keremeos, a village about four hours east of Vancouver. In November 2023, the case paused due to Chasing Horse\u2019s charges in the United States, but resumed the following year.<\/p>\n
After all of Chasing Horse\u2019s appeals have been exhausted, British Columbia prosecutors will assess next steps, Damienne Darby, communications counsel for the British Columbia Prosecution Service, said in an email Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Tsuut\u2019ina Nation Police Service in Alberta said in a statement following Chasing Horse\u2019s conviction that a warrant remains outstanding against him and said that it is in contact with the Alberta Crown Prosecutors Office regarding the warrant.<\/p>\n
\u2018Web of abuse\u2019<\/h2>\n
Nevada prosecutors said Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls.<\/p>\n
Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci told the jury that for almost 20 years, Chasing Horse \u201cspun a web of abuse\u201d that ensnared many women.<\/p>\n
Jurors heard from three women who said Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them. The jury returned guilty verdicts on some charges related to all three.<\/p>\n
Following his appearance as Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner\u2019s Oscar-winning film \u201cDances With Wolves,\u201d Chasing Horse, born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, traveled across Indian Country to attend powwows and perform healing ceremonies.<\/p>\n
Multiple victims described how they participated in his ceremonies or went to Chasing Horse for medical help.<\/p>\n
The main accuser was 14 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, according to Pucci. The sexual assaults continued for years, Pucci said.<\/p>\n
He denied the allegations and his attorney questioned the main accuser\u2019s credibility, calling her a \u201cscorned woman.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n
Copyright 2026 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.yakimaherald.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"LAS VEGAS (AP) \u2014 The sentencing for Nathan Chasing Horse following his conviction for sexual assault of Indigenous women and girls has been delayed by a week. The sentencing was scheduled to take place Wednesday, but Judge Jessica Peterson agreed to move the hearing to March 18. It will bring to a close a case […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2323738,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[21741],"class_list":["post-2323737","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment","tag-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/Sentencing-delayed-for-Dances-With-Wolves-actor-convicted-of-sexual.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2323737"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323737\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2323739,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2323737\/revisions\/2323739"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2323738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2323737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2323737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2323737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}