Nevada high court orders dismissal of Chasing Horse sex abuse case but says charges can be refiled

LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Nevada Supreme Court docket has ordered the dismissal of a sprawling intercourse abuse indictment in opposition to Nathan Chasing Horse, whereas leaving open the opportunity of prices being refiled in a case that despatched shockwaves all through Indian Nation and led to extra prison prices within the U.S. and Canada.

Proceedings within the 18-count prison case have been at a standstill for greater than a 12 months whereas the previous “Dances with Wolves” actor challenged it. The total seven-member courtroom’s determination, issued Thursday, reverses earlier rulings upholding the costs by a three-member panel of the excessive courtroom and a state decide.

Kristy Holston, the chief deputy public defender representing Chasing Horse, had argued {that a} definition of grooming introduced to the grand jury with out professional testimony had tainted the state’s case. Holston mentioned prosecutors additionally failed to supply the grand jury with proof that might have forged a doubt on the allegations in opposition to Chasing Horse, together with what she described as inconsistent statements made by one of many victims.

The excessive courtroom agreed.

“The mixture of those two clear errors undermines our confidence within the grand jury proceedings and created insupportable harm to the impartial operate of the grand jury course of,” the courtroom mentioned in its scathing order.

Holston declined to remark. Prosecutor Stacy Kollins didn’t instantly reply to an e mail in search of remark.

The ruling directs the decide overseeing the case in Clark County District Court docket to dismiss the indictment with out prejudice, which means the costs might be refiled.

“The allegations in opposition to Chasing Horse are indisputably critical, and we categorical no opinion about Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence,” the order says.

The excessive courtroom’s order for dismissal received’t take impact instantly. Prosecutors have about three weeks to ask the courtroom to rethink.

Chasing Horse is charged with sexual assault of a minor, kidnapping and youngster abuse. He has pleaded not responsible.

The 48-year-old has been in custody since his arrest final January close to the North Las Vegas house he’s mentioned to have shared with 5 wives. He’s unlikely to be launched from custody, even after the excessive courtroom’s determination, as a result of he faces prices in not less than 4 different jurisdictions, together with U.S. District Court docket in Nevada and on the Fort Perk Indian Reservation in Montana.

Chasing Horse is greatest identified for portraying Smiles A Lot within the 1990 movie “Dances with Wolves.” However within the many years since starring within the Oscar-winning film, authorities mentioned, he constructed a fame as a self-proclaimed medication man amongst tribes and traveled round North America to carry out therapeutic ceremonies.

He’s accused of utilizing that place to realize entry to susceptible women and girls beginning within the early 2000s, main a cult and taking underage wives.