[1] His father Samuel Wilder King (1886–1959), also part Native Hawaiian, later became the delegate to the United States Congress from the Territory of Hawaii, and then governor.

During World War II, he joined the United States Navy as a Japanese language translator from 1942 to 1946, and the Naval Reserve from 1946 to 1967.

From The New York Times, "His favorite and longest-running case involved protecting a small finch-billed bird, the palila, by removing wild goats and sheep from the slopes of a volcano.

"[6] In 1973, King presided over the case that convicted suspected organized crime leader Wilford Kalaauala "Nappy" Pulawa and five others for income tax evasion.

[7] After taking senior status, he continued to hear cases, including a murder trial depicted in the book And the Sea Will Tell that took place on remote Palmyra Atoll.

The trial moved to California because of pre-trial publicity, and included defense lawyers Vincent Bugliosi and Leonard Weinglass.

[10] Co-authors were Judge Walter Heen, Monsignor Charles Kekumano, educator Gladys Brandt, and William S. Richardson School of Law Professor Randall W. Roth.