LAS VEGAS, Jan 31 — Dances With Wolves actor Nathan Chasing Horse, once celebrated for his breakout role as Smiles a Lot in the Oscar-winning 1990 epic, has been convicted by a Nevada jury of sexually assaulting Indigenous women and girls — a case that prosecutors say exposed decades of exploitation and sent shock waves through Native communities across the US.

According to ABC News, jurors in Las Vegas found Chasing Horse guilty yesterday on 13 of the 21 charges he faced, most tied to assaults against a victim who was just 14 when the abuse began in 2012. 

The panel acquitted him of several other charges involving the same victim when she was older and living in his household. Chasing Horse, now 49, faces a minimum of 25 years in prison when he is sentenced on March 11.

The verdict caps a yearslong effort to prosecute the former actor, who, according to prosecutors, leveraged his status as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls. 

As the verdict was read out, Chasing Horse stood silently while victims and supporters — some wearing yellow ribbons — cried and embraced in the hallway outside the courtroom.

Clark County chief deputy district attorney William Rowles thanked the women who testified, saying: “I just hope that the people who came forward over the years and made complaints against Nathan Chasing Horse can find some peace in this.”

Chasing Horse’s lawyer, Craig Mueller, told the Associated Press he would seek a new trial, saying he was “confused” by the verdict and had “meaningful doubts about the sincerity of the accusations.”

He has also been charged with sex crimes in other states and in Canada. Prosecutors in British Columbia said yesterday that they will decide on next steps in their own case once US sentencing and appeals are complete.

The 11-day trial featured testimony from three women who accused Chasing Horse of sexually assaulting them, including minors at the time. 

Prosecutors argued that sexual assault cases rarely involve eyewitnesses because “they often happen behind closed doors.”

In her closing arguments, deputy district attorney Bianca Pucci said Chasing Horse had “spun a web of abuse” over nearly two decades. 

She told jurors the main accuser was 14 when Chasing Horse allegedly told her that “the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother,” who had cancer. 

Pucci said the actor warned the girl that her mother would die if she ever spoke out — and that the abuse continued for years.

Clark County district attorney Steve Wolfson, who attended yesterday’s hearing, said the verdict “sends a clear message that exploitation and abuse will not be tolerated, regardless of the defendant’s public persona or claims of spiritual authority.”

Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux — one of the seven Lakota tribes. 

While Dances With Wolves remains one of Hollywood’s most recognisable films featuring Native American actors, his trial unfolded at a time when US authorities are paying heightened attention to violence against Native women.

*If you are experiencing sexual violence, the following hotlines offer free and confidential support: Talian Kasih at 15999 or WhatsApp 019-2615999 (24/7); All Women’s Action Society at 016-2374221 / 016-2284221 (9.30am-5.30pm); and Women’s Aid Organisation (WAO) at 03-30008858 or SMS/WhatsApp TINA 018-9888058 (24/7)