Stegman

Defendant was charged by information with one count of possession of cocaine for sale, a violation of Health and Safety Code section 11351. Defendant pled not guilty. Defendant’s motion to suppress evidence pursuant to Penal Code section 1538.5 was denied. Defendant then withdrew his plea and entered a plea of guilty to the count charged. Defendant was sentenced to the middle term of three years. Defendant appeals, contending the trial court improperly denied his motion to suppress.

Facts

On May 21, 1982, at approximately 1 a.m., Riverside County Sheriff’s officers responded to a report from Jim Jacobson that he smelled the odor of ether coming from a neighbor’s residence. When Deputies Hanson and Birney arrived at Jacobson’s residence in a sparsely populated, mountainous, rural area, they smelled a very strong odor of ether. The deputies knew ether was a volatile substance, and that there was a danger of explosion and fire. Because of this danger, the Jacobsons were evacuated by the fire department.

There were three houses in the area of the ether odor. The first house was the Jacobson residence. Deputies Hanson and Birney went up to the second residence to try to…