Burkholder

This petition for writ of prohibition or mandamus arises against the following factual background as disclosed in the record.

In early August 1978, Deputy Till, assigned to a special narcotics unit of the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Department, was engaged in a daytime flight over a rural county area in an aircraft jointly owned by a private *424 flying club and the sheriff’s office. 2 From an absolute altitude estimated at 1,500 to 2,000 feet, Deputy Till—aided by 7 by 50 mm. binoculars—observed what he believed to be a marijuana patch situated in a heavily wooded, mountainous area; Deputy Till had identified similar growths from aerial observations on three earlier, unrelated occasions. Using a camera equipped with 135 mm. telephoto lens, photographs taken by Deputy Till depicted a clearing surrounded by chicken wire enclosing bright, green plant life readily distinguishable from the surrounding foliage. The patch was situated on the south side of a steep canyon enclosed by trees.

On September 10, 1978, 3 Deputy Till made a second overflight and again observed the suspected marijuana patch. Two days later, accompanied by fellow officers and two newspaper reporters,…