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“There’s always the empty chair, always the missing story, that laugh.” It’s been seven long years since Bob Schmill lost his son Matt in an accident at 62nd and Maple in Omaha. Matt’s memory lives on at a roadside marker where he was left to die after being run down by a hit-and-run driver.

Bob has fought for tougher DUI penalties and the Nebraska Legislature listened. “We really don’t want anyone else to have to go and walk down our path, walk in our shoes as we’ve done for the last seven years.”

The tougher laws hit several high-profile cases. Those driving under the influence with children under 16 in their vehicle will now face additional charges as will motor vehicle homicides including a provision for pregnant mothers.

Boating under the influence will be treated as DUI charges and refusing sobriety testing becomes a separate charge. There are also interlock systems, where those convicted of DUI can still drive if the alcohol detection system allows them to. DUI convictions will go back 15 years instead of 12 and stricter penalties increase jail time and fines.

“People should be well aware of those greater penalties for those kinds of crimes.” Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine says the new laws close holes in legislation. “We have far too many of these kinds of cases in our system and it puts far too many people at risk in the community.”

Defense attorney Steve Lefler agrees. “I do believe that our society’s laws that have toughened DUI has saved lives.”

Schmill says the real power lies in the hands of those with the final word. “Legislation can write as many laws as they want. Law enforcement can go out and enforce those laws, but when it gets back to the judge, if the judge doesn’t go to the letter of the law, then it doesn’t go.”

Nebraska Gove. Dave Heineman will sign the tougher DUI bills into law Thursday morning, though the enhanced penalties won’t take effect until January 1, 2012.

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Getting busted for drunk driving is going to involve more than paying a fine and a license suspension for first-time offenders in Nebraska.

First-offense and second-offense DUI convictions will automatically mean ignition interlock equipment. It’s a device that keeps an engine from started if the driver’s breath alcohol content signals more than an allowed level.

However, the law also provides incentives for those who voluntarily request to have the devices installed, including the opportunity to be allowed to drive to work and, in some cases, to avoid license suspensions.

The state will pay for interlock equipment for indigent offenders.

Gov. Dave Heineman was expected to sign the law.
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Lawmakers advanced an overhaul of Nebraska’s driving-under-the-influence laws Tuesday that would expand the use of ignition-based breath sensors, clamp down on intoxicated boating and make driving drunk with a child a standalone crime.

The proposal by Speaker of the Legislature Mike Flood sailed through a first-round vote, 41-0. It would create opportunities for offenders drive to attend substance abuse programs, or meet their probation requirements. It also would create a fund to help pay for ignition interlock devices for drivers who cannot afford one. Tampering with the device would become a felony.

Current law allows motorists with interlock devices to drive to work, school, community service obligations and other activities.

“At the end of the day, it’s not that we want to make sure these people aren’t driving,” said Flood, of Norfolk. “We want them to get to work. We want them to get to their drug and alcohol education classes. We want them to pick their children up. We want them to pay child support. We want them to be productive members of society.”

Current law allows authorities to take the licenses of motorists charged with drunken driving, and give them a temporary 30-day license. Drivers can use the 30-day license until they appear at an administrative license revocation hearing before the Department of Motor Vehicles.

Flood said his bill would instead grant suspected offenders a 15-day temporary license. First-time offenders could avoid a license suspension if they waive their right to an administrative license revocation hearing and agree to use an ignition interlock device for 180 days.
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A bill that would target habitual drunk drivers in Nebraska has been scheduled for a hearing before the Legislature’s Judiciary Committee today (Thursday).

State Senator Pete Pirsch of Omaha said LB 675, which he sponsored, was introduced “to help eliminate the death and carnage that is regularly occurring on our streets because of drunk drivers.”

Pirsch said there are 116 individuals with 10 or more Driving Under the Influence (DUI) convictions in Nebraska, according to State Department of Motor Vehicles records.

“These offenders are the worst of the worst, and have no sincere interest in changing their dangerous ways,” the senator stated.
There are six portions to the bill, he pointed out.

Under LB 675, drunk drivers with four prior convictions would receive a mandatory minimum five years in jail.
Pirsch said Nebraska ranks third in the nation in per capita drunk drivers.

He added that statistics point out that for every time one person has been arrested for DUI, he could have been caught 80-200 other times. There are “some 14,000 DUI cases filed in the state every  year,” he added.

Another part of the bill would create a new criminal offense that would apply to those already convicted of felony drunk driving. Such offenders would be prohibited from driving a vehicle with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) of .02 or over.

Law enforcement could discover that when the person is stopped for a traffic violation. “It’s a zero-tolerance approach for these serial drunk drivers,” Sen. Pirsch stated.State law says persons may be arrested for DUI if they have a BAC of .08 or over.

“It’s time to get these people out of the pool. These people have been offered a hand up time and time again, and for some reason or another have declined to accept it,” he said.
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Nebraska lawmakers are proposing a new law that would require DUI offenders to add something extra to their cars before they can get behind the wheel and drive.

Attorney General Jon Bruning said, “For those who drive at a elevated blood alcohol level we will mandate the use of ignition interlock device so, if they want to drive their car and they would have to attach the device and blow first.”

Project Extra Mile, Executive Director Diane Riibe thinks increasing penalties is a good idea but she does not agree with the repeal of automatic license revocation or the A.L.R.

Riibe said, “There are some good things to the proposal so they are some positive in their but we have some concerns of administrative license revocation or ALR portion of it …very effective tool to fighting drunk driving but shown and the evidence is there for about 2 decades so, would seem as a unwise backward step for the state to take.”

If the bill is approved, this would be the first major rewrite of DUI laws since 2006. It would require a defendant to install the ignition interlock device instead of losing their license.

Bruning said, “This bill will close up loop holes that has cost deaths continue in 2010 and we just want to reduce that number.”

Riibe stated, “They have no proof that removing ALR and replacing it with another system that would be also frustrating and also will cost money would be affected.”

Currently, judges would require someone to use an interlock device as part of their sentence. The devices, cost about $80 to install and a couple of dollars each day to operate.

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When Nebraska lawmakers convene in January for the 102nd session, they’ll have a long wish list from Omaha City Council to consider.

City Prosecutor Mark Conboy urged council members to approve a resolution asking lawmakers to come up with stiffer penalties for repeat drunk driving offenders and those who provide minors with alcohol.

“Something needs to be done,” said Councilwoman Jean Stothert, after the meeting.

Police report they made over 3500 drunk driving arrests last years, many of those were repeat offenders.

Several recent tragic deaths have made news: a young Nebraska woman who had only been married for five weeks died of injuries she sustained when a drunk driver crashed into her vehicle. That driver was already facing one DUI charge at the time.

In another instance, police and prosecutors have charged a 20-year-old man for allegedly providing alcohol to minors. A teenage girl was killed in a crash.

City council is also asking state lawmakers to put some teeth into penalties for graffiti.

Stothert said offenders are getting caught but the law does not provide stiff enough punishment to dissuade them from re-offending.

In all, council has 35 items ranging from school funding to getting more money for street repair they want state lawmakers to consider.

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A drunk driving conviction today carries with it a suspension of driving privileges for a period of time.  However, in many states the person convicted of DUI is permitted to drive his vehicle to designated places if he installs an ignition interlock device (IID) in his car.  This exception is commonly designed to permit the person to go to work, school, alcohol programs and/or appointments with probation officers.

Nebraska is one of those states that recognizes the wisdom of this approach.  The punishment for DUI is harsh, but it shouldn’t ruin a person’s life by causing him to lose his job, drop out of school, or be unable to meet his court-ordered obligations to attend alcohol education programs or probation officer appointments.

The Nebraska DMV also felt that permitting citizens to drive to probation appointments was a logical part of the rehabilitative process.

Federal bureaucrats disagree.

According to a March 13 article in the Lincoln Journal-Star, the federal government has decided that the State of Nebraska should not permit its citizens to report to probation officers by using an IID.  And to emphasize their position, they have threatened the state with the loss of $7.15 million in federal funds if they don’t change this law.

Nebraska needs the money.  And so a bill (LB924) is now before the Nebraska Senate and has been given first-round approval.  The bill would remove visiting probation officers as a permissible destination for those required to have IIDs in their cars.  The bill is expected to become law on July 15th.

“This truly shows the disconnect with the feds,” said Sen. Deb Fischer, chairwoman of the Transportation and Telecommunications Committee. “Some bureaucrat has decided people don’t need to drive to probation appointments.”

About the author:  Lawrence Taylor is a San Diego DUI attorney and the author of the standard textbook in the field, Drunk Driving Defense, 6th edition.

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A former Hastings city councilman who resigned after being charged with drunken driving is seeking office again.

This time, Mike Glassmyer wants to be appointed to a seat on the Adams County Board.

Glassmyer says he’s gotten his life in order and is ready to work for the community again.

He’s among five candidates up for Roger Larson’s seat. Larson stepped down at the end of 2009. The board hopes to name a replacement by its Feb. 2 meeting.

Glassmyer stepped down as city councilman in 2005 after being in office less than a year.

He was found not guilty of drunken driving, but was convicted of refusing to take a breath or blood test. That conviction was later overturned.

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A Fremont woman convicted of her fourth drunken-driving offense will be sentenced Jan. 25 in Dodge County District Court.

Thirty-3-year-old Spring Howley faces up to 20 years in prison and a $25,000 fine. She also could have her driver’s license revoked for 15 years.

Howley this month pleaded guilty to driving while intoxicated. She also had been accused of having her 5-month-old infant in the back seat of her vehicle at the time of the offense.

In exchange for her plea, prosecutors agreed to drop one count of child abuse.

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Police arrested a woman twice in one night in two different cars for driving drunk. Police spokeswoman Katie Flood said the woman was pulled over at 1:13 a.m. Wednesday after she allegedly made an illegal turn and was spotted swerving down a south Lincoln street.

The officer who stopped her said her blood-alcohol level was .19. That’s more than twice the legal limit. The woman was cited on suspicion of driving under the influence and negligent driving and taken to a detoxification center.

Flood said the same officer stopped the woman again about two hours later. This time she was driving her boyfriend’s car. She was arrested for driving under the influence and negligent driving and taken to jail. Her blood-alcohol level then tested at .154.

Have you been arrested for DUI in Nebraska?

Nebraska DUI arrests give rise to the right to a jury trial. Nebraska DUI juries are comprised of six people from the community; in order to obtain a guilty verdict in a drunk driving case, the prosecutor must convince all six of the jurors in the defendant’s guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. This means that if even one juror does not believe the accused violated Nebraska DUI laws, there is a hung jury. This will possibly result in the dismissal of the Nebraska DUI. A case dismissal is always the more likely when you have a top Nebraska DUI lawyer on your side.