HRS §806-8
How prosecutors can charge you without a grand jury
Read the official text at capitol.hawaii.gov ↗In certain criminal cases, the prosecutor can choose to charge you using an information, complaint, or indictment, even if a grand jury was not involved. This applies to cases that start in a court of record. The prosecutor decides which charging document to use.
The statute, as written — Prosecution where indictment not essential
A copy, taken August 20, 2026. The version published by the Legislature is the one that governs, and it may have changed since. Check it before relying on anything here.
In criminal cases brought in the first instance in a court of record, but in which the accused may be held to answer without an indictment by a grand jury, the legal prosecutor may arraign and prosecute the accused upon an information, complaint, or an indictment at the prosecutor's election; and in all criminal cases brought in the first instance in a court of record the prosecutor may arraign and prosecute the accused by information, complaint, or indictment, as the case may be, whether there has been a previous examination, or commitment for trial by a judge, or not.
LawTrove is not legal advice. The summary above is a computer-generated restatement — the authoritative text is the official version linked above.