Phelan

Statement of the Case

On May 16, 1978, a complaint was filed in the Mariposa Justice Court charging petitioners Skeet Dewayne Phelan and Carol Jean Phelan with cultivating marijuana in violation of Health and Safety Code section 11358. Petitioners pled not guilty and at the preliminary hearing moved to suppress the evidence of marijuana seized on their premises (Pen. Code, § 1538.5). The motion was denied. Petitioners renewed their motion to suppress in the superior court, and after a special hearing at which the transcript of the preliminary hearing was received in evidence along with oral testimony of witnesses, the motion again was denied.

Petitioners filed with this court a petition for writ of mandate. We stayed further proceedings of the action and issued an order to show cause why the writ should not be granted.

Statement of the Facts

Around May 1, 1978, Officer Wackerman of the Mariposa County Sherifif’s Department received information from California Highway Patrol Officer Roger Matlock that he had received a report from an informant that a marijuana garden was located in a small ravine on the west side of the property located “straight across the road from…