Can a police officer seize intoxicating liquor from a soft drink barroom without a search warrant?

The same court in Vachina v. United States, 283 F. 35, held that where a bottle and demijohn containing intoxicating liquor unlawfully in defendant's possession were in plain sight when officers entered a kitchen in the rear of his soft drink barroom, the seizure was legal whether or not they had a valid search warrant. The case went upon the theory that the defendant was engaged, in the presence of the officers, in the actual commission of an offense denounced by the law in that he had possession of intoxicating liquor in his place of business, and that the officers without a warrant might in such a case seize the instrument of the crime.

The same court in Kathriner v. United States (C.C.A.) 276 F. 808, also held a seizure of intoxicating liquor without a warrant not unlawful. In that case the officers entered a soft drink establishment, formerly a saloon, and found the bartender behind the bar. An officer jumped over the bar and seized liquor found behind the bar. The want of a warrant did not make the seizure unlawful.