PINE RIDGE, S.D. (AP) – The chief judge of the Oglala Sioux Tribe in South Dakota has been suspended.

Tribal President John Yellow Bird Steele tells the Rapid City Journal that Marwin Smith was suspended March 31 by the tribe's Judiciary Committee pending an unspecified investigation.

The suspension must be ratified by the Tribal Council. It's not clear when that vote might happen.

Smith was elected chief judge last November without opposition. A telephone listing for him could not immediately be found.

–––

Information from: Rapid City Journal, http://www.rapidcityjournal.com