Initially, a grand jury kept voting not to indict anyone for the murder of Joe Kahahawai, but the judge refused to accept this, giving the grand jury "a legal sermon about their duties." After a couple of weeks, the four defendants were indicted for murder in the second degree. According to the Honolulu Civil Beat, instead of being kept in jail, the Navy successfully argued for the murder suspects to be allowed to stay on the USS Alton, where "they were hailed by their friends as heroes."

Throughout the trial, one of the defense attorneys, Clarence Darrow, described the murder as an honor killing, which is how many white people considered the murder at the time. Meanwhile, an NAACP report said "The only lynching recorded thus far in 1932 by the NAACP is that of Joseph Kahahawai of Hawaii, on January 8th."

Although all four were all found guilty of manslaughter, their 10-year sentence of hard labor was commuted by the territorial governor of Hawaii to one hour, to be served in his office at Iolani Palace. This was done in an attempt to avoid imposing martial law since the white community was indignant even before the sentencing.

Meanwhile, the governor decided to amend Hawaii's rape statue. "The need to corroborate a female victim's allegations" was eliminated while new language was added to allow for capital punishment in rape cases. Twenty-one days after Joe Kahahawai's murder, the amendments were signed into law.

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