First Offense DUI In Nebraska

A first offense DUI has serious penalties associated with it. Both civil and criminal penalties can be incurred for receiving a first offense DUI.

The arresting officer can immediately confiscate your driver’s license under the Administrative License Revocation (ALR) process. You will be furnished with a 15-day temporary license. From this point you have 10 days to request a hearing where you can challenge the license revocation. Your rights to this hearing will be waived if you would prefer to receive an Ignition Interlock Permit (IIP).

If the arresting officer asks you to take a test and you refuse, you risk losing your license for one (1) year. If you failed the test, and this was your first DUI offense, then it will be revoked for six (6) months.

Civil Proceedings: Ignition Interlock Permit

An Ignition Interlock Permit is a restricted permit issued to you for your first offense DUI. This permit allows you to use your car for essential transport needs such as driving to work, school, a treatment center, and back home. To apply for an IIP, you need to carry out the following steps:

• Check and see if you are eligible for the Ignition Interlock Permit at the DMV.
• Fill out the application.
• Install the equipment in your vehicle and display a current installation certificate that in your vehicle. It cannot be a commercial motor vehicle.
• Surrender your current driver’s license.
• All other reinstatement requirements must be satisfied.

After you have met these requirements, you can get your IIP issued from any Nebraska DMV. Bring two forms of ID, a birth certificate, and a $47.50 fee for the treasurer.

ALR Hearing

You can choose to challenge the grounds for your suspension at an ALR hearing. This hearing must be requested within ten days of your first offense DUI arrest. A DMV representative will send you the date for the appointment, which will be in their office or via telephone.

You need to prove that, although you tested over .08 BAC, you were not in physical control of the vehicle or operating a motor vehicle and that the arresting officer did not have probable cause to believe that you were in physical control of or operating a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol.

If you refused a test and your license was taken, you need to prove that the officer did not have probable cause to believe that you were under the influence of an illegal amount of alcohol by weight and operating a motor vehicle. You must also be able to prove that you neither refused to take nor failed a chemical test when the arresting officer requested it.

If you have evidence to support these conditions, your license will be reinstated to you.

Criminal Proceedings

The criminal procedure for a first offense DUI is before a judge. You will pay court costs, potential fines, and for an alcohol assessment. Additionally, you may be subject to jail time, probation, and/or community service hours.

The State has to prove that you were operating a motor vehicle or in control of a motor vehicle while under the influence of alcohol. The alcohol in your system cannot exceed “eight hundredths of one gram or more by weight of alcohol per one hundred milliliters of blood”. This can also be measured by alcohol in your breath. At least eight-hundredths of one gram or more of alcohol per two hundred ten liters of breath is enough to consider you to be driving under the influence of alcohol. As long as you have no other offenses and this is indeed your first offense, the judge may give you a lighter sentence.

Penalties

A first offense DUI conviction is a Class W misdemeanor. You will lose your drivers license for up to six months. You will be responsible for a minimum of seven days in jail and a $400 fine or a maximum of 60 days in jail and a $500 fine will be levied.

The court may give you probation for your first offense DUI sentence. You will receive a 60-day revocation of your driver’s license and pay a $500 fine. You will have to have an Ignition Interlock Permit added to your vehicle during the time of your license revocation.

You may be found guilty of a Class V misdemeanor if you refuse to submit to a sobriety test. This is a maximum fine of $500.