I often have clients approach me with the question "can't the victim just drop the charges against me?"  The short and simple answer is NO.  The victim cannot drop the charges against you.  The State of Nebraska is the decision maker when it comes to prosecuting crimes.  Only the state has the authority to dismiss or “drop” charges.   If a victim does not want to see you prosecuted and they are unwilling to testify against you, it can certainly assist your case.  A reluctant alleged victim may cause the prosecutor to offer a better plea bargain or even dismiss the charges entirely.  However, you should never try to contact a victim in an effort to convince them not to testify against you.  Doing so could get you charged with witness tampering which is a felony in Nebraska punishable by up to 5 years in prison.  Instead you should let your attorney interview the witness, if necessary, in order to determine what their likely testimony will be.  

Supreme Court limits warrantless blood tests for drunken driving suspects
By Robert Barnes, April 17, 2013
The Washington Post

Police officers generally must try to get a warrant before forcing uncooperative drunken-driving suspects to submit to a blood test, the Supreme Court ruled Wednesday.

The natural dissipation of alcohol in a person’s bloodstream does not justify an exception to the general constitutional requirements of a warrant, Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote for the majority.

She said such emergencies must be determined by the circumstances in a case-by-case examination and rejected the notion that officers face a “now or never” situation in obtaining blood alcohol tests.

“In those drunk-driving investigations where police officers can reasonably obtain a warrant before a blood sample can be drawn without significantly undermining the efficacy of the search, the Fourth Amendment mandates that they do so,” Sotomayor wrote.

She was joined in her main holding by Justices Antonin Scalia, Anthony M. Kennedy, Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Elena Kagan.

Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. agreed with the outcome of the case, which affirmed a decision from the Missouri Supreme Court, but criticized the vagueness of the majority’s test.

“A police officer reading this court’s opinion would have no idea — no idea — what the Fourth Amendment requires of him, once he decides to obtain a blood sample from a drunk driving suspect who has refused a breathalyzer test,” wrote Roberts, who was joined by Justices Stephen G. Breyer and Samuel A. Alito Jr.

Strong words aside, Roberts’s proposed rule differed mostly by degree.

“If there is time to secure a warrant before blood can be drawn, the police must seek one,” Roberts wrote. “If an officer could reasonably conclude that there is not sufficient time to seek and receive a warrant, or he applies for one but does not receive a response before blood can be drawn, a warrantless blood draw may ensue.”

Justice Clarence Thomas was the lone justice agreeing with Missouri and the U.S. government that the metabolization of alcohol in the blood created the kind of emergency that does not require a warrant.

The case came from rural Cape Girardeau County, where in the early-morning hours of Oct. 3, 2010, Missouri State Highway Patrol Cpl. Mark Winder pulled over Tyler G. McNeely. McNeely, whose speech was slurred and who had alcohol on his breath, failed a field sobriety test and twice refused to take a breath test.

Winder arrested him and, on the way to jail, stopped by a hospital. After McNeely refused to submit to a blood test, Winder ordered a phlebotomist to draw blood anyway. Winder did not attempt to obtain a warrant because he said he thought Missouri law did not require it because of recent changes.

Nebraska law requires that a law enforcement officer have reasonable cause to believe you are driving while intoxicated before he or she may arrest you for that charge.  To assist in determining whether he or she has the necessary reasonable cause, the officer may ask you to perform the field sobriety tests.  Common examples of these tests include: "the walk and turn" (9 steps heel to toe on line, pivot and return), "the one-legged stand", "finger to nose", "horizontal gaze nystagmus (follow object with eyes side to side), and various alphabet and counting tests.  

You DO NOT have to perform these field sobriety tests and failure to do them does not carry a criminal charge.

However, if you are arrested for driving while intoxicated, the officer will likely request that you submit to a breath or blood test.  Nebraska law DOES require you to take the test.  If you refuse to submit to the breath or blood test, you can have your driver's license suspended by the state department of motor vehicles and be charged in criminal court with driving while intoxicated and refusing to submit to the test, each of which carry separate penalties.  

Why is this?  By having the privilege of being a licensed driver, you have agreed to abide by the laws governing travel on the public highways.  One of these laws includes the agreement to submit to an intoxication test of your breath or blood.