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Darrow put Lieut. Massie on the stand to testify that he had leveled a loaded pistol at Kahahawai and had then blacked out. A defense psychiatrist explained that, at the moment, the lieutenant was "chemically" insane. To nearly everyone's consternation, the jury found Massie, Mrs. Fortescue and their two helpers guilty of manslaughter. Under territorial law, that gave the judge no option but to sentence them to ten years. But a wave of public outrage had overwhelmed the White House on Massie's behalf. Hawaii's Territorial Governor Lawrence Judd got his orders from President Hoover himself: Find some way to keep the four out of prison. With considerable relief, Judd commuted the sentences to one hour.
"Damn Right." The original rape case was never retried. In 1934, the Massies were divorced, and each married again. After two suicide attempts and stays in several sanatoriums, Thalia died in 1963 of an overdose of barbiturates.
Tommie Massie left the Navy and vanished into civilian respectability—which is where Van Slingerland found one of the lieutenant's "deputies," Albert Jones. According to the author, Jones at last set the record straight on Joe Kahahawai's murder:
Q [Van Slingerland]: And then?
A [Jones]: I shot him.
Q: You shot him?
A: You're God damn right I did.