Chasing Horse’s Nevada sex abuse trial on hold indefinitely

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The sexual abuse trial of a “Dances With Wolves” actor charged in Nevada with abusing Indigenous ladies and ladies for greater than a decade is on maintain indefinitely, a state choose introduced Wednesday.

Nathan Chasing Horse, 46, was initially set to face trial Could 1. He’s charged with 18 felonies, together with sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping, lewdness and baby abuse.

Shortly after a grand jury in Las Vegas indicted him in February, Chasing Horse invoked his proper to a trial inside 60 days. However on Wednesday, his public defender, Kristy Holston, requested to place a pause on proceedings whereas they ask the Nevada Supreme Courtroom to toss his indictment.

Clark County District Choose Carli Kierny stated she would set a brand new trial date if the excessive court docket upholds her current determination denying Chasing Horse’s request to dismiss the case. Chasing Horse and his attorneys argued that two ladies recognized as his victims wished to have intercourse with him.

Kierny, in her ruling issued Friday, stated state prosecutors offered sufficient proof for “an inexpensive grand juror to conclude that the sexual assaults occurred.” Whereas Kierny upheld the sexual abuse costs, she dismissed a drug trafficking cost, saying that there was no substantive testimony tying Chasing Horse to the psilocybin mushrooms investigators discovered whereas looking his residence.

Holston and lead prosecutor Stacy Kollins declined to remark additional after the listening to.

Kierny set a brand new listening to for Could 10 to examine on the standing of Chasing Horse’s enchantment to the excessive court docket, which had but to be filed on Wednesday.

Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota and is extensively identified for his portrayal of Smiles a Lot in Kevin Costner’s 1990 movie.

However police and prosecutors have stated that within the a long time since showing within the Oscar-winning film, Chasing Horse marketed himself to tribes nationwide as a medication man with therapeutic powers who might talk with larger beings. They accuse him of utilizing his place to guide a cult, achieve entry to weak women and girls, and take underage wives beginning within the early 2000s.

Chasing Horse’s indictment in state court docket stems from allegations made by two ladies — together with one who says she was 14 when the sexual abuse started — however court docket data present authorities have recognized a minimum of 4 different victims within the U.S and in Canada.

The previous actor’s arrest on Jan. 31 in Nevada despatched shockwaves all through Indian Nation and led to extra prison costs in different jurisdictions, together with in Canada and the U.S. District Courtroom in Nevada, in addition to on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation in Montana.

Chasing Horse is being held on $300,000 bail at a county jail in Las Vegas. If he posts bail, he seemingly could be turned over to federal authorities in Nevada.

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