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A federal appeals court will hear arguments next month in a former Crow Creek Sioux Tribe chairman's appeal of his convictions for bribery and conspiracy.
A federal jury convicted Duane Big Eagle in August 2011 of two counts of conspiracy to bribe a tribal official and one count of aiding and abetting the bribery of a tribal official.
Big Eagle was sentenced to three years in prison for a scheme in which tribal officials were rewarded for giving contracts to construction companies for buildings at the tribe's central South Dakota school.
The 8th U.S. Circuit Court of appeals will hear Big Eagle's appeal in St. Paul, Minn.