Nathan Chasing Horse has been sentenced to spend the rest of his life in prison in Nevada, after a jury found the 'Dances With Wolves' actor guilty ofsexually assaulting Indigenous women and girlsover many years, including one who said the abuse began when she was 14.
The former child star, best known for playing Smiles a Lot in the Oscar‑winning film, received his life sentence on Monday from Judge Jessica Peterson in a Las Vegas court.
Chasing Horse told the court the outcome was 'a miscarriage of justice.'
At Monday's sentencing, Nathan Chasing Horse appeared in a navy blue Clark County Detention Center uniform and stared straight ahead as his accusers and their relatives addressed the court.
They told Judge Jessica Peterson they were still living with the trauma of what had been done to them and spoke about how their faith and spiritual lives had been shattered after trusting him as a healer and ceremonial leader.
Despite the guilty verdicts, Chasing Horse continued to insist he had been wronged. 'This is a miscarriage of justice,' he told the judge, maintaining his denial of the allegations.
His legal team had already tried to secure a new trial, arguing that a witness was not properly qualified to testify about grooming and that some charges should have been barred by time limits, but that application was rejected.
Deputy district attorney Bianca Pucci told jurors during the trial that, for almost two decades, Chasing Horse 'spun a web of abuse' around women and girls who came to him seeking spiritual guidance or healing.
In several instances, victims said they first met him at powwows or ceremonies, or sought him out for help with medical issues, only to be drawn into situations where he used spiritual language and authority to coerce them.
The most detailed testimony came from three women who said Nathan Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them, with the jury delivering guilty verdicts tied to each of their accounts. One of them, Corena Leone‑LaCroix, has chosen to be publicly identified and described in court how the abuse began when she was 14 in 2012.
Source: International Business Times UK
