LAS VEGAS (AP) — Former “Dances with Wolves” actor Nathan Chasing Horse is set to go on trial in Las Vegas early next year on charges of sexually abusing indigenous women and girls, a significant development in extensive criminal record after more than a year of stalled legal proceedings while he contested it.

His trial in Clark County District Court is scheduled to begin Jan. 13, court records show. He pleaded not guilty Wednesday to 21 felonies, including sexual assault, kidnapping and making and possessing child sexual abuse videos, KLAS-TV in Las Vegas reported.

Prosecutors are now able to move forward with their case because Chasing Horse was charged again last month following a Nevada Supreme Court decision that his initial indictment be dismissed. The high court order left open the possibility that the charges could be renewed, and prosecutors quickly took their case to another grand jury.

The high court said in its September order that prosecutors abused the grand jury process when they offered a definition of grooming as evidence of Chasing Horse’s alleged crimes without any expert testimony. But the judges also made it clear in their ruling that their decision did not consider Chasing Horse’s guilt or innocence, saying the allegations against him were serious.

Best known for portraying the character Smiles A Lot in the 1990 film “Dances with Wolves,” Chasing Horse was born on the Rosebud Reservation in South Dakota, home to the Sicangu Sioux, one of the seven tribes of the Lakota Nation.

After starring in the Oscar-winning film, according to prosecutors, Chasing Horse began promoting himself as a self-proclaimed Lakota medicine man while traveling across North America to perform healing ceremonies.

Prosecutors said he used his authority to gain access to vulnerable women and girls for decades until his arrest in January near Las Vegas. He has since been imprisoned.

Chasing Horse’s arrest spread across Indian country as law enforcement in the US and Canada more criminal charges quickly followed. In Montana, authorities there said his arrest helped corroborates longstanding allegations against him on the Fort Peck Indian Reservation. Tribal leaders kicked Chasing Horse off the reservation in 2015 amid allegations of human trafficking.

His latest indictment in Las Vegas includes new allegations that Chasing Horse filmed himself having sex with one of his accusers when she was under 14. Prosecutors said the footage, taken in 2010 or 2011, was found on cellphones in a locked safe inside the home. The North Las Vegas home Chasing Horse is said to have shared with five wives, including the girl in the videos.

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