WILLIAMS, Circuit Judge.
On July 14, 2010, an officer with the South Bend Police Department stopped the vehicle that Jason Smith was driving when Smith failed to signal a right turn at an intersection. A search of Smith's car yielded a loaded revolver, crack cocaine,
On the morning of July 14, 2010 Officer Greg Early of the South Bend Police Department was on a routine patrol in the city of South Bend. Officer Early was driving a marked police car with a police dog trained in narcotics detection when he saw a Pontiac Grand Prix at a service station near the intersection of Elwood and Portage. A few days earlier, Officer Early received a tip from an informant that a black male in his twenties was driving a Pontiac Grand Prix while carrying a gun and drugs. The license plate number of the Grand Prix in Officer Early's view matched the one provided by the informant. Officer Early proceeded to another call, but spotted the Pontiac between fifteen and twenty minutes later. Officer Early later testified that he noticed a "questionable," but "pretty dark" tint on the windows, and a brake light that was partially out.
Smith, the driver of the Pontiac, was driving south on Walnut Street and reached the intersection of Fassnacht, Walnut, and LaPorte Streets. Fassnacht, Walnut, and LaPorte Streets form a three-way, five pronged intersection. (A map from the record is appended to the end of this opinion). Not all three streets intersect at the same point, and if one were driving southbound on Walnut, the driver could take a sharp turn right onto LaPorte, a less severe (approximately 120 degree) turn right onto Fassnacht, or a slight left turn to continue onto Walnut.
Smith did not use his signal light when he turned from Walnut onto Fassnacht Street. At that point Officer Early activated his lights and siren and called for backup. Smith pulled over on Fassnacht Street, and Officer Early approached the car. Because he had trouble seeing through the window tint, Officer Early asked Smith to show his hands through the driver's side window, and then asked for his license and registration. Officer Early smelled the odor of burnt marijuana, and found Smith to appear nervous as he "fumbled around for the registration." Smith handed Officer Early the registration, but could not produce a license. Officer Early then saw Smith push closed the front of a plastic grocery bag on the passenger's seat. After backup arrived, Officer Early ordered Smith out of the car and patted him down, recovering what he suspected
Smith was charged with being a felon in possession of a firearm, 18 U.S.C. § 922(g)(1), possessing crack cocaine with intent to deliver, 21 U.S.C. § 841(a)(1), and possessing a firearm in furtherance of a drug transaction, 18 U.S.C. § 924(c).
While the indictment stated that the events in connection with Smith's arrest occurred on July 13, 2010, the government revealed at trial that the events actually occurred on July 14, 2010. At the close of evidence, Smith argued that his indictment was constructively amended and moved for acquittal, which the court denied. Smith was convicted on all three counts, and was sentenced to a term of 165 months' imprisonment. Smith now appeals the denial of his motion to suppress and his motion for acquittal.
When reviewing a district court's ruling on a motion to suppress, we review legal conclusions de novo and factual findings and credibility determinations for clear error. United States v. Cartwright, 630 F.3d 610, 613 (7th Cir.2010). A factual finding is only deemed clearly erroneous when we have a "definite and firm conviction that a mistake has been made." United States v. Jackson, 300 F.3d 740, 745 (7th Cir.2002). Special deference is given to the district court's factual determinations because the district court had the opportunity to hear the testimony and observe the demeanor of witnesses at the suppression hearing. Id.
A traffic stop does not violate the Fourth Amendment when the police officer has probable cause to believe that a driver has committed even a minor violation of a traffic law. United States v. Garcia-Garcia, 633 F.3d 608, 612 (7th Cir.2011) (citing Whren v. United States, 517 U.S. 806, 819, 116 S.Ct. 1769, 135 L.Ed.2d 89 (1996)). Other actual motivations of the police officer bear no weight on the "constitutional reasonableness" of traffic stops. Whren, 517 U.S. at 813, 116 S.Ct. 1769. "But when a police officer mistakenly believes that the law prohibits an act that is, in fact, perfectly legal, even a good faith belief that the law has been violated will not support the stop." Garcia-Garcia, 633 F.3d at 612 (citing United States v. McDonald, 453 F.3d 958, 961-62 (7th Cir. 2006)). The officer's belief that a law has been broken must be "reasonable," but
Indiana Code § 9-21-8-25 provides that "[a] signal of intention to turn right or left shall be given continuously during not less than the last two hundred (200) feet traveled by a vehicle before turning or changing lanes." Though not often discussed, the Indiana Court of Appeals has highlighted that use of a turn signal is not restricted to "certain situations on certain roadways" and that the statute requires the use of a turn signal even when turning from a parking lot onto a street or changing lanes, Datzek v. State, 838 N.E.2d 1149, 1155 (Ind.Ct.App.2005). But such a holding is not particularly instructive for the specific set of facts before us.
The statute does not define "turning." As such, we look to the Indiana courts for guidance. Brownsburg Area Patrons Affecting Change v. Baldwin, 137 F.3d 503, 508 (7th Cir.1998). If an Indiana statute is not ambiguous, the court will give effect to the plain, ordinary, and usual meaning of the language of the statute. Miller v. LaSalle Bank Nat. Ass'n, 595 F.3d 782, 786 (7th Cir.2010); see also Baldwin, 137 F.3d at 508. The Oxford English Dictionary defines "turning" as "movement about an axis or centre; rotation, revolution." Oxford English Dictionary, available at http://www.oed.com/. Headed southbound on Walnut, Smith could have made two "right" choices: a roughly 120-degree right onto Fassnacht, or a less than 90 degree (and thus much more sharp) right onto LaPorte. By going right onto Fassnacht, we find that Smith sufficiently "rotated" so that his movement was a turn under a plain reading of Indiana's statute.
Smith contends that no signal was required from Walnut to Fassnacht because he did not make the sharp right turn onto LaPorte, and using a signal would have in fact confused a driver behind him. This, however, does not negate or discount the fact that Smith's turn onto Fassnacht was a right turn under Indiana law. Indiana law does not define a right turn in relation to other turns and neither the statute nor the plain or ordinary meaning defines a turn by the degree of sharpness or a particular angle. The degree of a right turn angle can vary from intersection to intersection. See, e.g., United States v. Smith, 421 Fed.Appx. 572, 574 (6th Cir.2011) (unpublished) ("Even if not a 90-degree turn, requiring a signal here fits within the plain language of" ordinance stating that "[n]o person shall turn a vehicle or move right or left upon a highway . . . without giving an appropriate signal"); see also United States v. Washington, No. 07-CR-132, 2008 WL 90525, at *2 (N.D.Ind. Jan. 8, 2008) ("[P]roceeding straight ahead on a `direct course' would land the driver in the business located at that intersection—and the act of making a turn requires the use of a turn signal as required by Sections 9-21-8-24 and 9-21-8-25."). The record here indicates that continuing "straight" on Walnut also includes some element of a "turn," but in a five-pronged intersection such as this, we agree with the district court that a plain reading of the statute requires a turn signal from Walnut to Fassnacht. Accordingly, Officer Early had probable cause to conduct the traffic stop. Because we find probable cause based on Smith's failure to signal, we do not reach the question of whether the vehicle's window tinting provided independent grounds for justifying the stop.
For the reasons set forth above, the judgment of the district court is AFFIRMED.