Is a DUI a Felony or Misdemeanor in Nebraska?

Whether a DUI is a felony or a misdemeanor in Nebraska depends on how many prior DUI convictions you have within the past 15 years, your blood alcohol concentration at the time of arrest, and whether anyone was hurt. A first or second DUI is almost always a misdemeanor. A third offense is a felony only if your BAC was 0.15% or higher or you refused chemical testing. A fourth or subsequent DUI is a felony regardless of BAC, and any DUI that causes serious bodily injury or death is a felony on its own.

What Pushes a Nebraska DUI Into Felony Territory

Two numbers do most of the work: the count of prior DUI convictions in the last 15 years, and whether your BAC reached 0.15%. Nebraska’s standard legal limit is 0.08%, but the statute treats 0.15% as a separate, harsher threshold.¹

Three situations turn a DUI into a felony:

A third DUI within 15 years where your BAC was 0.15% or higher, or you refused the chemical test. Class IIIA felony.
A fourth or subsequent DUI within 15 years, at any BAC. Class IIIA felony.
Any DUI that causes serious bodily injury (Class IIIA felony) or death (Class IIA felony, or Class II felony if you have a prior DUI conviction).²

The 15-year look-back matters because an old DUI you thought was behind you can still count. A conviction from 14 years ago is a prior for the purposes of today’s charge.

First Offense: Misdemeanor

A first DUI with no priors in the last 15 years is a Class W misdemeanor. The lower BAC version carries 7 to 60 days in jail, a $500 fine, and a six-month license revocation. If your BAC was 0.15% or higher, the charge stays a Class W misdemeanor but the license revocation rises to one year and an ignition interlock device is required for that full year.²

No felony exposure on a first offense from the DUI itself. The only way a first-time DUI becomes a felony is if someone was seriously hurt or killed.

Second Offense: Still a Misdemeanor

A second DUI within 15 years is also a misdemeanor, but the class depends on BAC.

With a BAC below 0.15%, it is a Class W misdemeanor. The sentencing range is 30 days to six months in jail, a $500 fine, and an 18-month license revocation.³

With a BAC of 0.15% or higher, or a test refusal, the charge rises to a Class I misdemeanor. The mandatory minimum is 90 days in jail and a $1,000 fine, with an 18-month license revocation. The maximum reaches one year in jail and a 15-year revocation.² A Class I misdemeanor is the most serious misdemeanor class in Nebraska, but it is still a misdemeanor. No felony record attaches.

Third Offense: The Dividing Line

The third DUI is where misdemeanor and felony split. Everything hinges on BAC and whether you took the test.

Third Offense Under 0.15%

A third DUI within 15 years where the BAC was below 0.15% stays a Class W misdemeanor. The sentencing range runs from 90 days to one year in jail, a $1,000 fine, and a 15-year license revocation.³ On probation, you serve 30 days in jail, pay the $1,000 fine, and face a 2 to 15-year revocation.²

Third Offense at 0.15% or Higher, or Refusal

Same third DUI, but with a BAC of 0.15% or higher, or a refusal to submit to chemical testing, and the charge becomes a Class IIIA felony. The DUI penalty statute imposes a mandatory minimum of 180 days in prison and a 15-year license revocation.² The Class IIIA felony classification itself allows up to 3 years in prison, 18 months of post-release supervision, and a fine of up to $10,000.⁴

If you have two prior DUIs and get pulled over, the choice of whether to take the chemical test, and what your BAC turns out to be, is the choice between a misdemeanor and a felony.

Fourth or Subsequent Offense: Automatic Felony

A fourth DUI within the 15-year look-back period is a Class IIIA felony automatically. BAC is irrelevant. The penalty range is the same as a felony third: up to 3 years in prison, up to a $10,000 fine, 18 months of post-release supervision, and a 15-year license revocation.² The practical difference between a felony third and a felony fourth is that no BAC threshold is needed. Four DUIs in 15 years is enough.

When Injury or Death Makes Any DUI a Felony

A DUI with no priors can still be a felony if the driving hurt or killed someone.

Causing serious bodily injury while driving under the influence is a Class IIIA felony, standing on its own apart from the repeat-offense track. It applies even to a first-time DUI. The court must revoke your license for at least 60 days and up to 15 years.⁵ The Class IIIA felony penalty range of up to 3 years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines applies.⁴

Causing a death while driving under the influence is motor vehicle homicide. Without a prior DUI, it is a Class IIA felony, carrying up to 20 years in prison. With a prior DUI conviction, it rises to a Class II felony with a sentencing range of 1 to 50 years in prison. In both cases the license revocation is 15 years.⁶ The gap between a Class IIA and a Class II conviction is significant: a Class IIA felony has no mandatory minimum prison term, while a Class II requires at least one year.⁴

What Felony Classification Means in Practice

Nebraska’s felony classes carry different ceilings, and the DUI-related ones sit at the lower end of the felony scale, but they are still felonies with everything that label brings.

Class IIIA felony (felony third-offense DUI, felony fourth-offense DUI, DUI causing serious bodily injury): up to 3 years in prison, 18 months of post-release supervision, up to a $10,000 fine.
Class IIA felony (motor vehicle homicide, no prior DUI): up to 20 years in prison, no mandatory minimum.
Class II felony (motor vehicle homicide with a prior DUI): 1 to 50 years in prison.⁴

A felony conviction carries consequences the misdemeanor track does not. The 15-year license revocation that attaches to felony DUIs is far longer than the six to 18 months typical of first and second misdemeanor offenses. Beyond sentencing, a felony record affects firearm rights, voting rights until civil rights are restored, employment background checks, and professional licensing. If you hold a commercial driver’s license, any DUI conviction, misdemeanor or felony, in any vehicle, triggers a one-year CDL disqualification on a first major offense and a lifetime disqualification on a second.⁷

One procedural note that applies across the misdemeanor-felony divide: a DUI arrest also triggers a separate administrative license revocation handled by the DMV, not the criminal court. You have 10 days from receiving notice to petition for a hearing to contest it.⁸ That revocation runs on its own track regardless of whether the criminal charge is a misdemeanor or a felony.

1
Justia. Nebraska Code 60-6,196 – Driving Under Influence of Alcoholic Liquor or Drug; Penalties
2
Justia. Nebraska Code 60-6,197.03 – Driving Under Influence of Alcoholic Liquor or Drugs; Implied Consent to Submit to Chemical Test; Penalties
3
FindLaw. Nebraska Code 28-106 – Misdemeanors; Classification of Penalties; Sentences; Where Served
4
Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 28-105 – Felonies; Classification of Penalties
5
Justia. Nebraska Code 60-6,198 – Driving Under Influence of Alcoholic Liquor or Drugs; Serious Bodily Injury; Violation; Penalty
6
Nebraska Legislature. Nebraska Code 28-306 – Motor Vehicle Homicide
7
Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Commercial Drivers License Disqualification
8
Nebraska Department of Motor Vehicles. Administrative License Revocation (ALR)