An overwhelming majority of the Oglala Sioux Tribal Council voted Monday to impeach tribal President Julian Bear Runner, but the 11-5 margin was 3 votes shy of the two-thirds majority needed.
Five members of the tribal council did not vote.
The council ordered Monday’s impeachment hearing after a father accused Bear Runner of sexually assaulting his teenage son.
At the hearing, the alleged victim said President Bear Runner began a relationship with him when he was 17 and that the relationship turned sexual after his 18th birthday.
Bear Runner emphatically denied the allegations, calling them completely false.