Sex abuse trial of former 'Dances with Wolves' actor in Nevada is again postponed

LAS VEGAS — The sex abuse trial of former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse in Nevada has again been postponed.

A judge on Monday moved the start of the trial in state court in Las Vegas to Aug. 4. The 48-year-old had been scheduled to stand trial next week on charges that he sexually abused Indigenous women and girls for years in the Las Vegas area.

Craig Mueller, Chasing Horse's lawyer, said in a motion filed Friday that he needs more time to prepare and interview witnesses. It's the latest in a series of delays since Chasing Horse was arrested and indicted in early 2023.

Chasing Horse has pleaded not guilty to 21 felonies, including sexual assault of a minor under 16, kidnapping and producing and possessing videos of child sexual abuse. If convicted of the sexual assault charges, he could face decades or life in prison.

After starring as Smiles A Lot in the 1990 Oscar-winning film “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling around North America to perform healing ceremonies, authorities have said. He was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota nation.

Prosecutors say Chasing Horse used his position to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest near Las Vegas. He has been jailed ever since, but criminal proceedings were at a standstill for more than a year while Chasing Horse challenged his original indictment.

It was eventually dismissed after the Nevada Supreme Court ruled that prosecutors had abused the grand jury process when they provided a definition of grooming as evidence without any expert testimony. The high court's order, however, left open the possibility for charges to be refiled, and prosecutors quickly took their case before another grand jury.

Chasing Horse was again indicted in October. The indictment added new allegations that he filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was younger than 14. Prosecutors have said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the North Las Vegas home that Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.

His case has been unfolding at the same time lawmakers and prosecutors around the U.S. are funneling more resources into cases involving Native women, including human trafficking and killings.