LAS VEGAS (AP) — A Nevada jury on Friday convicted “Dances With Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse of multiple charges of sexually assaulting a minor.
The jurors in Las Vegas acquitted Chasing Horse, who had pleaded not guilty to all 21 charges, on other sexual assault charges. His sentencing is scheduled for March 11.
Prosecutors said Chasing Horse used his reputation as a Lakota medicine man to prey on Indigenous women and girls. Most of the guilty verdicts returned by the jury centered on Chasing Horse's conduct with a victim who was 14 years old when he began assaulting her.
The verdict marks the climax of a yearslong effort to prosecute Chasing Horse after he was first arrested and indicted in 2023 in a case that sent shock waves through Indian Country.
As the verdict was read, Chasing Horse stood quietly. Victims and their supporters cried and hugged in the hallway while wearing yellow ribbons.
William Rowles, the Clark County chief deputy district attorney, thanked the women who had accused Chasing Horse of assault for testifying.
“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,” he said.
Defense attorney Craig Mueller said he will file a motion for a new trial and told The Associated Press he was confused and disappointed in the jury’s verdict. He said he had some “meaningful doubts about the sincerity of the accusations.”
“Dances With Wolves” was one of the most prominent films featuring Native American actors when it premiered in 1990. After Chasing Horse appeared in the Oscar-winning film, he traveled across North America and performed healing ceremonies.
His trial came as authorities have responded more in recent years to an epidemic of violence against Native women.
During the three-week trial, jurors heard from three women who say Chasing Horse sexually assaulted them, some of whom were underage at the time.
Deputy District Attorney Bianca Pucci said in her closing statements Wednesday that for almost 20 years, Chasing Horse “spun a web of abuse” that caught many women.
Mueller said in his closing statements that there was no evidence, including eyewitnesses. He questioned the main accuser’s credibility, describing her as a “scorned woman.”
Prosecutors said sexual assault cases rarely have eyewitnesses and often happen behind closed doors.
The main accuser was 14 years old in 2012 when Chasing Horse allegedly told her the spirits wanted her to give up her virginity to save her mother, who was diagnosed with cancer. He then sexually assaulted her and told her that if she told anyone, her mother would die, Pucci said during opening statements.
Nathan Chasing Horse, center, confers with attorneys as he appears in court for his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
Nathan Chasing Horse appears in court for his trial on charges of sexually abusing Indigenous women and girls Tuesday, Jan. 20, 2026, in Las Vegas. (AP Photo/John Locher)
ROME (AP) — Pope Leo XIV will personally carry the wooden cross through all 14 stations of the Way of the Cross at the Colosseum on his first Good Friday as pontiff, marking the first time in decades that a pope carries the cross to every station.
“I think it will be an important sign because of what the pope represents, a spiritual leader in the world today, and for this voice, that everyone wants to hear, that says Christ still suffers,” Leo told reporters this week outside of the papal retreat at Castel Gandolfo. “I carry all of this suffering in my prayer.”
John Paul II carried the cross for the entire procession from his first Good Friday as pontiff in 1979 until his hip surgery in 1995, when he carried it just part of the way, according to AP reports at the time.
For the first two years of his papacy, Benedict XVI carried the cross for the first station inside the Colosseum, then followed other bearers in the procession that ends on a platform on the Palatine Hill.
Pope Francis never carried the cross, but participated in the procession until his health worsened. He died after a long illness last year on Easter Monday, which fell on April 21.
Pope John Paul II was just 58 when he became pope, and was known as a hiker and outdoorsman. His two successors were in their late 70s when they began their papacies, and Francis was missing part of a lung due to a pulmonary infection as a young man.
At 70, Leo is physically fit and an avid tennis player and swimmer. Before becoming pope, Leo would work out regularly at a gym near the Vatican, with a plan befitting a man in his early 50s, according to his former trainer.
Crowds are expected to gather outside of the Colosseum for the Way of the Cross, which commemorates the final hours of Jesus’ life, from his death sentence to taking up the cross to his crucifixion, death and burial. The procession ends outside the Colosseum atop the Palatine Hill.
The meditations, which are read aloud at each station, were composed by the Rev. Francesco Patton, who was custos (or custodian) of the Holy Land 2016-25, charged, among other things, with looking after sacred sites
“The Way of the Cross is not intended for those who lead a pristinely pious or abstractly recollected life,” Patton wrote in his introduction. “Instead, it is the exercise of one who knows that faith, hope and charity must be incarnated in the real world.”
On Holy Saturday, the pontiff will preside over Easter vigil rites at St. Peter’s Square and lead Roman Catholics into Christianity’s most joyous celebration marking Christ’s resurrection.
On Easter Sunday, the pope will celebrate an open-air Mass in St. Peter’s Square before delivering his Easter message and offer the traditional “Urbi et Orbi” blessing to the city (of Rome) and the world.
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
Pope Leo XIV attends the Celebration of the Passion of the Lord in St. Peter's Basilica at the Vatican on Catholic Good Friday, Friday, April 3, 2026 (AP Photo/Andrew Medichini)
