Problem with animator controller transitions

I have an animator controller for a human character that controls running and turning motions. The locomotion state is for running and turning while running. The other two states are for a quick turn before starting any forward movement.

There are 3 transition conditions: if speed is greater than .1, the angle is less than .5 and greater than -.5. The problem is that when I want the character to do a quick turn (by going from idle to right/left turn states) the controller first does one 'loop' through the locomotion then moves over through its transitions to the turn states (making the character run a step forward before turning).

I logged out the parameters being sent to the controller as well and it really seems that it shouldn't be going from idle into locomotion.

I really don't understand how it can possibly be hitting locomotion first. Big thanks for any help.