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The DUI Stop

Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,196 and Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197 — eight-hundredths, implied consent, and refusing as a separate crime

It is unlawful to operate or be in the actual physical control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcoholic liquor or any drug, or with a concentration of eight-hundredths of one gram or more of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of blood, or per two hundred ten liters of breath.

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Consent is deemed given. Anyone who operates or has actual physical control of a motor vehicle in Nebraska is deemed to have consented to a chemical test of blood, breath or urine, which an officer with reasonable grounds may require after an arrest.

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197
  • A person asked to take a test is advised that refusing is a separate crime, for which they may be charged.
  • Refusing a test, or failing one, starts the administrative license revocation procedures.
  • A refusal is admissible as evidence in the DUI case.
  • Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197

Those are the rules on testing. A first conviction without a prior one is a Class W misdemeanor with a six month license revocation, during which the person applies for an ignition interlock permit. At fifteen-hundredths or more, the revocation runs one year.

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197.03

A Class W misdemeanor on a first conviction carries a mandatory minimum of seven days and a five hundred dollars fine, and a maximum of sixty days; a second conviction carries thirty days to six months.

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-106

Testing is also limited by the Fourth Amendment. The Supreme Court of the United States has held that a breath test may be taken without a warrant as part of a lawful arrest for drunk driving and a blood test may not; that a driver may not be criminally punished for refusing a blood test where no warrant was obtained; and that the natural fall of alcohol in the blood does not by itself create an emergency excusing a warrant in every case, which is decided case by case on all the circumstances. Those holdings are a floor: a state's own constitution and statutes can give more protection than they do, never less.

  • Birchfield v. North Dakota
  • Missouri v. McNeely

Later convictions climb to felonies, and the administrative revocation runs on its own clock. A particular case is a question for a licensed Nebraska attorney.

  • Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197.03
Sources for this section (6)
  1. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,196 — Driving under influence of alcoholic liquor or drug; penalties
  2. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197 — Driving under influence of alcoholic liquor or drugs; implied consent to submit to chemical test; when test administered; refusal; advisement; effect; violation; penalty
  3. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 60-6,197.03 — Driving under influence of alcoholic liquor or drugs; implied consent to submit to chemical test; penalties
  4. Neb. Rev. Stat. § 28-106 — Misdemeanors; classification of penalties; sentences; where served
  5. Birchfield v. North Dakota, 579 U.S. 438 (2016) — A breath test may be taken incident to arrest, a blood draw needs a warrant
  6. Missouri v. McNeely, 569 U.S. 141 (2013) — The natural fall of blood alcohol is not by itself an emergency justifying a warrantless draw

Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of October 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Nebraska attorney.

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