Court Opinion

ID: 9374890
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-02-24 16:00:33.0117+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:16:53.886044
License: Public Domain

USCA11 Case: 22-11685    Document: 21-1     Date Filed: 02/24/2023   Page: 1 of 6

                                               [DO NOT PUBLISH]

                                   In the
                United States Court of Appeals
                        For the Eleventh Circuit

                          ____________________

                                No. 22-11685
                          Non-Argument Calendar
                          ____________________

       UNITED STATES OF AMERICA,
                                                      Plaintiff-Appellee,
       versus
       DAVID JARRELL GAUSE,

                                                  Defendant-Appellant.

                          ____________________

                 Appeal from the United States District Court
                      for the Middle District of Georgia
                 D.C. Docket No. 5:21-cr-00010-TES-CHW-1
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       2                       Opinion of the Court                  22-11685

                              __________________

       Before ROSENBAUM, JILL PRYOR and DUBINA, Circuit Judges.
       PER CURIAM:
               Appellant David Jarrell Gause appeals his conviction for pos-
       session of methamphetamine with intent to distribute. He argues
       that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress when
       it found that Officer Thompson had probable cause to believe that
       Gause had committed a traffic violation when he conducted the
       traffic stop and discovered the illegal substance in Gause’s vehicle.
       Gause challenges only the district court’s factual finding that the
       officer had probable cause, not the district court’s legal conclusion.
       After having read the parties’ briefs and reviewed the record, we
       affirm the district court’s order denying Gause’s motion to sup-
       press and thus his conviction.
                                             I.
              When reviewing the denial of a motion to suppress, we re-
       view the district court’s factual determinations for clear error and
       the application of the law to those facts de novo. United States v.
       Ransfer, 749 F.3d 914, 921 (11th Cir. 2014). All facts are construed
       in the light most favorable to the prevailing party below. Id. We
       afford substantial deference to the factfinder’s credibility determi-
       nations. United States v. Lewis, 674 F.3d 1298, 1303 (11th Cir.
       2012). We will only reverse a factual finding if it is “contrary to the
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       22-11685               Opinion of the Court                         3

       laws of nature, or is so inconsistent or improbable on its face that
       no reasonable factfinder could accept it.” United States v. Cavallo,
       790 F.3d 1202, 1227 (11th Cir. 2015) (internal quotation marks omit-
       ted).
                                           II.
               The Fourth Amendment protects against unreasonable
       searches and seizures. U.S. CONST. AMEND. IV. Under the exclu-
       sionary rule, evidence cannot be used against a defendant in a crim-
       inal trial where that evidence was obtained via an encounter with
       police that violated the Fourth Amendment. United States v. Per-
       kins, 348 F.3d 965, 969 (11th Cir. 2003). A traffic stop is a seizure
       within the meaning of the Fourth Amendment. Whren v. United
       States, 517 U.S. 806, 809-10, 116 S. Ct. 1769, 1772-73 (1996). An
       officer making a stop must have reasonable suspicion, or “a partic-
       ularized and objective basis for suspecting the person stopped of
       criminal activity.” United States v. Campbell, 26 F.4th 860, 880 &
       n.15 (11th Cir.) (en banc) (quotation marks omitted) (noting that
       probable cause is sufficient to comply with the Fourth Amend-
       ment, but only reasonable suspicion is necessary), cert. denied, 143
       S. Ct. 95 (2022).
             The decision to stop a vehicle is reasonable where the police
       have probable cause to believe that a traffic violation has occurred.
       Whren, 517 U.S. at 810. There is probable cause to conduct a traffic
       stop where an officer observes a defendant make an illegal lane
       change. United States v. Harris, 526 F.3d 1334, 1338 (11th Cir.
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       4                      Opinion of the Court                22-11685

       2008) (noting that failure to signal during a lane change violates
       O.C.G.A. § 40-6-123). Georgia law provides:
             No person shall ... change lanes or move right or left
             upon a roadway unless and until such movement can
             be made with reasonable safety. ... A signal of inten-
             tion to turn right or left or change lanes when re-
             quired shall be given continuously for a time suffi-
             cient to alert the driver of a vehicle proceeding from
             the rear in the same direction or a driver of a vehicle
             approaching from the opposite direction.
       O.G.C.A. § 40-6-123(a)-(b).

              Georgia courts have held that a defendant violates this stat-
       ute when he makes a signal-less lane change while there are other
       cars nearby. See, e.g., Salinas-Valdez v. State, 624 S.E.2d 278, 279-
       80 (Ga. Ct. App. 2005) (holding that a defendant violated § 40-6-123
       for making a signal-less lane change that resulted in him pulling in
       front of a police car while traffic was “medium heavy to heavy”);
       Tukes v. State, 511 S.E.2d 534, 536 (Ga. Ct. App. 1999) (holding that
       a signal-less lane change violated § 40-6-123(b) when there were
       other cars in the immediate area). Further, Georgia courts have
       interpreted the statutory language of O.G.C.A. § 40-6-123 such that
       a turn signal is not required when a lane change can be made with
       “reasonable safety.” Bowers v. State, 473 S.E.2d 201, 203 (1996)
       (holding that there was no probable cause that § 40-6-123 was vio-
       lated when the nearest following car was 100 yards away).

                                        III.
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       22-11685                Opinion of the Court                          5

               The record indicates that the district court did not err in con-
       cluding that the traffic stop was supported by probable cause. We
       give substantial deference to the district court’s determination that
       Officer Thompson’s testimony was credible. Lewis, 674 F.3d at
       1303. Even though there was no corroborating evidence, the dis-
       trict court explicitly considered Thompson’s experience, his de-
       meanor, tone, manner of testifying, and body language in making
       this finding, so there is no indication that no reasonable factfinder
       could have come to this conclusion. See Cavallo, 790 F.3d at 1227.
               Taking Officer Thompson’s testimony as credible, which we
       are bound to do, see United States v. Aldridge, 719 F.2d 368, 373
       (11th Cir. 1983) (stating that absent clear error, a district court’s
       credibility findings at a suppression hearing are binding on our
       court), we conclude that he had probable cause to conduct the traf-
       fic stop. Officer Thompson testified that he observed Gause
       change lanes in front of another vehicle that was 50 to 75 feet be-
       hind Gause. See Whren, 517 U.S. at 810; Harris, 526 F.3d at 1338.
       Officer Thompson knew that changing lanes 50 to 75 feet in front
       of another vehicle without a turn signal could not be done without
       reasonable safety and was therefore a violation of O.G.C.A. § 40-6-
       123. This is consistent with Georgia courts’ interpretation of the
       statute. See Salinas-Valdez, 624 S.E.2d at 279-80; Tukes, 511 S.E.2d
       at 536.
             At the suppression hearing, Gause argued to the district
       court that Officer Thompson’s video dashboard camera did not
       show the other vehicle on the road; however, he did not offer any
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       6                      Opinion of the Court                 22-11685

       evidence to contradict Officer Thompson’s testimony that the ve-
       hicle was 50-75 feet behind Gause when he made the lane change
       without using his turn signal. Officer Thompson’s testimony is not
       contradicted by the dashboard camera’s failure to record the lane-
       change infraction or failure to record the car that was behind Gause
       when he changed lanes. As Officer Thompson explained at the
       suppression hearing, the lane-change infraction was not recorded
       on video for a simple reason: The camera was not activated until
       Officer Thompson turned on his emergency lights to make the traf-
       fic stop, which he did only after the infraction had already occurred.
       The car that Gause changed lanes in front of was not recorded on
       video for a similarly simple reason: When the driver of that car saw
       Officer Thompson activate his emergency lights and begin to move
       from the left lane to the middle lane, that driver “fell back” and
       remained some distance back so the vehicle was outside the frame
       of the forward-facing camera. Given these straightforward expla-
       nations—credited by the district court—Officer Thompson’s testi-
       mony is in no way contradicted by the video’s failure to show the
       lane change or the car in question.
              Gause fails to demonstrate that the district court clearly
       erred in its factual finding that Officer Thompson had probable
       cause to believe that Gause committed a traffic infraction and ef-
       fected a traffic stop for this violation. Accordingly, based on the
       aforementioned reasons, we affirm the district court’s order deny-
       ing Gause’s motion to suppress and his conviction.
             AFFIRMED.