Las Vegas judge to allow testimony from additional alleged victims in Nathan Chasing Horse trial

Yahoo

29-01-2025

LAS VEGAS (KLAS) — A judge will allow testimony from three women who said Nathan Chasing Horse sexually abused them when they were teenagers in the trial against him, even though two of them are not named as victims in his current case.
In court Wednesday, Clark County District Court Judge Jessica Peterson explained the testimony may demonstrate a pattern by Chasing Horse and will provide the jury with a better understanding of the case.
Melissa Leone, the mother of an alleged victim in the current case, attended the hearing.
'It's a victory,' Leone told the 8 News Now Investigators. 'It's a great win.'
The 'Dances with Wolves' actor is scheduled to go on trial in April. A Clark County grand jury indicted Chasing Horse in October for 21 felony charges including 10 counts of sexual assault with a minor under 16 years of age, six counts of sexual assault, two counts of possession of visual presentation depicting sexual conduct of a child, and one count each of use of a minor under the age of 14 in producing pornography, open or gross lewdness and first-degree kidnapping of a minor.
One charge dates back to 2010, according to court documents.
Chasing Horse, 48, appeared in front of Peterson Wednesday morning. Chief Deputy District Attorney William 'Billy' Rowles argued allowing the testimony from the three women demonstrated a pattern of Chasing Horse using his status as a 'Medicine Man' to gain access to underage girls and sexually abuse them.
Criminal defense attorney Craig Mueller argued against it, pointing out Chasing Horse was never charged in connection with the claims and the allegations were never proven in court.
Peterson pointed out Nevada state law allows the court to admit evidence of other prior bad acts specifically in sex crimes cases.
Multiple girls and women previously reported that Nathan Chasing Horse sexually abused them for nearly two decades, but their reports did not result in criminal charges.
In a motion to admit evidence of other crimes filed by the district attorney's office on Dec. 12, prosecutors detailed the allegations from the additional alleged victims and included police reports.
'The defendant has groomed young women for at least over two decades and now starting as early as 2002/2003,' prosecutors wrote.
One woman met Chasing Horse when she was 13 or 14 years old at a ceremony in Montana and thought of him as an uncle, according to the motion. Chasing Horse told her he 'wanted more,' the motion stated.
When she was 15 years old, Chasing Horse sexually assaulted her and told her not to tell anyone, according to the motion. She believed if she told someone what happened, bad things would happen to her family because of Chasing Horse's position as a 'Medicine Man,' the motion stated.
Another woman met Chasing Horse when she was 13 years old and in a treatment center in Montana in 2003, according to the motion. Chasing Horse had approached her, asked her how old she was and asked for her address to visit her, the motion stated.
Three months later, Chasing Horse sexually assaulted her at least three times, according to the motion.
'Both incidents reflect another example of [the] defendant using his position in the community to gain access to young children, befriend them and their families, isolate them, and take advantage of them sexually,' the motion stated.
Prosecutors also included a report from the North Las Vegas police department from 2015, after one woman who is now identified as a victim in the indictment, first came forward.
The department closed the case citing that the 19-year-old woman 'had come to North Las Vegas of her own free will to meet a male that she said had sexually assaulted her, and because during the sexual incident did not say no, push away, yell or run away, I found that I did not believe it could be prosecuted in court.'
This was despite the department learning from the Meade County Sheriff's office in Sturgus, South Dakota, that there were previous allegations against Chasing Horse of a similar nature.
'Deputy Bostrom had gotten information that Chasing Horse may have sexually assaulted other females from Canada while at Bear Butte South Dakota' the report stated. 'He spoke to Officer Fox of the Tsuu T'ina National Police Department and found that 3 females had reported sexual assault reports against Chasing Horse in Canada.'
The report also referred to Chasing Horse's previous arrests in 1995 and 1996 in South Dakota for theft, obstructing and eluding police and 'priors for not paying child support in Montana.'
Prosecutors said they have evidence including video of Chasing Horse sexually assaulting an underage girl. That girl was later considered to be one of Chasing Horse's 'wives,' and is now an adult. Attempts to talk to the woman have been unsuccessful as law enforcement has been met with hostility from her family, according to testimony.
Police arrested Chasing Horse at his North Las Vegas home on Jan. 31, 2023.
The Las Vegas case is the first of several to move forward against Chasing Horse after Corena Leona-Lacroix, now identified as a victim in the indictment, spoke out.
Leone-Lacroix, who previously shared her story with the 8 News Now Investigators, testified she first met Chasing Horse as a child and at the age of 14, turned to him to help cure her mother's cancer. She said this was when Chasing Horse first sexually assaulted her.
'He said that it's what the spirits had wanted, that that was the price of helping my mom,' she said.
Leone-Lacroix said Chasing Horse repeatedly sexually assaulted her when she was underage. She said she eventually moved in with Chasing Horse and became a 'wife.' She described abuse inside the home.
In 2019, Leone-Lacroix said she set up a Tinder profile which Chasing Horse later discovered. She testified he punished her.
'He had said that since I had wanted to be with other men so badly that he could make that happen and that that could be a way I could repay the betrayal that I had done by serving other men and being a vessel by letting men have sex with me. He said that the rules were though that I was not allowed to see them so I would be wearing a blindfold. I was not allowed to say anything and I was not allowed to move or touch them in return,' she said. 'I was just supposed to lay there and allow it to happen and that would be a way I could pay back my betrayal.'
She testified this happened multiple times, both at Las Vegas hotels and inside a home.
The second woman, who previously came forward to North Las Vegas police, testified Chasing Horse sexually assaulted her and then gave her a pill. She said she later developed an ectopic pregnancy.
Leone-LaCroix also testified she was given a pill after the first alleged sexual assault and then Chasing Horse put her on birth control.
Chasing Horse's followers were considered members of 'The Circle.'
Chasing Horse was previously charged with 18 counts in Clark County District Court in connection with alleged sexual abuse against two of the three women in the current case.
The Nevada Supreme Court dismissed the previous indictment in a Sept. 26 order and said prosecutors should not have defined 'grooming' to the grand jury. Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson immediately told the 8 News Now Investigators that prosecutors would seek another indictment against Chasing Horse within weeks and would 'follow the dictates' of Nevada's high court. The order allowed prosecutors to retry Chasing Horse.
Chasing Horse faces warrants in Montana and Canada. He has also previously been banned from several reservations. Chasing Horse is a 'Rosebud Sioux Indian, Lakota Tribe,' according to an arrest report.
Chasing Horse was previously represented by the Clark County Public Defender's office.
8 News Now Investigator Vanessa Murphy can be reached at [e-mail].
To contact the National Sexual Assault Hotline, call 1-800-656-4673.
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