LAS VEGAS — Nathan Chasing Horse, an actor known for his role in the 1990 film “Dances With Wolves,” was sentenced to life in prison on Monday for sexually assaulting indigenous women and children.
The actor, 49, who played Smiles A Lot in the Academy Award-winning film, was found guilty of 13 of 21 counts after a weeklong trial in January, KLAS reported. The charges included 10 counts of sexual assault of a minor, the television station reported.
Chasing Horse will be eligible for parole after serving for 37 years, according to The Associated Press.
During the sentencing phase, the court heard statements from victims and their family members detailing the trauma experienced by the actor’s actions, KSNV reported.
“There is no way to get back the youth, the childhood loss, my first time, my first kiss, the graduation I never got to have,” Corena Leone-LaCroix, who was 14 when Chasing Horse assaulted her, told the court, according to the AP. “The life that little girl could have lived has been taken from me forever.”
After several delays, Nathan Chasing Horse returned to a Downtown Las Vegas courtroom on Monday to receive his prison sentence in his sexual abuse case.
— KSNV News 3 Las Vegas (@News3LV) April 27, 2026
A judge sentenced Chasing Horse to 37 years to life in prison.
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Chasing Horse, who has denied the accusation, told a judge on Monday that the verdict and sentence was “a miscarriage of justice.”
Chasing Horse was born in Rosebud Reservation, South Dakota, according to IMDb. He played a young Sioux in “Dances With Wolves,” the film starring Kevin Costner that won seven Academy Awards, including best picture. The film was nominated for 12 Oscars; Costner, while not winning the best actor award, received an Academy Award as best director.
Chasing Horse also appeared in several television movies, according to The Washington Post.
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