Thursday, April 30, 1998

By Kathryn Bender, Star-Bulletin
Kawika Ordenstein is greeted by family and friends
last night at Honolulu International Airport.

---

Kawika comes home

The ex-St. Louis athlete
is allowed to return to Hawaii
as he fights an attempted
murder charge

By Pat Bigold
Star-Bulletin

Embattled former St. Louis High School athlete Kawika Ordenstein arrived home last night to the tearful embraces of family and friends.

The sight of sympathetic faces seemed to energize the 6-foot-2, 200-pound Kailua resident as he entered the terminal lobby at the Honolulu International Airport. But he followed the instructions of his attorney, Robert Cooper, and avoided all media questions.

It's not the best of times for Ordenstein, who was the second leading receiver on the University of New Mexico football team last season.

Ordenstein has been charged with attempted murder after allegedly beating track athlete James Marin last Thursday on the UNM campus.

Arrested Saturday night in Albuquerque, Ordenstein pleaded innocent at his arraignment Monday in Metro Court. Judge Frank Gentry reduced his bail from $100,000 to $10,000 and released him from the Bernalillo County Detention Center.

He was allowed to return home with his father, David, who got off the Delta flight with him.

The attempted murder charge carries a basic sentence of seven years in prison.

Among the 15 people on hand to greet Kawika Ordenstein were his mother, Lei Bright, his brother, two-time all-state Kamehameha running back Jacob Ordenstein, and St. Louis basketball coach Darryl Gabriel. Ordenstein led Gabriel's 1995 Crusaders to the Interscholastic League of Honolulu title and the state finals. He was named the league's player of the year that season.

David Ordenstein acted as spokesman for the family, but refused to discuss details of his son's case.

He did, however, react indirectly to questions of the seriousness of Marin's injuries.

A story in Wednesday's Albuquerque Journal reported that a physician who saw Marin in the training room after the incident did not believe the sprinter's injuries were life-threatening.

According to the paper, Greg Remington, UNM assistant athletics director for media relations, said Dr. Chris McGrew had an ambulance handy. But a student trainer, who was experiencing seizures, was taken in the ambulance. Two student trainers drove Marin to the hospital.

According to the article by Journal staff writer Dennis Latta, McGrew "did not believe Marin's injuries were as serious as the trainer's."

The arrest warrant said Marin suffered an inner-ear hemorrhage, a ruptured eardrum and broken cheekbone after being slammed against a car, punched and choked.

"We're very confident that the charges are overstated. Very confident," David Ordenstein said.

The incident supposedly wasn't reported to police for eight hours. Marin's father Jimmy, who was in Spain on business at the time, finally called campus police. He says UNM is trying to cover up the incident because Ordenstein was a football player.

Asked if he knows why it took so long for the alleged attack to be reported, David Ordenstein said, "That's a good question."

Asked why Kawika Ordenstein didn't turn himself in as soon as a warrant was issued for his arrest, David Ordenstein said, "He was scared. He was waiting for me, and he didn't understand the charges. The charges were not drawn up until 4 or 5 p.m. Friday night, I'm assuming."

David Ordenstein said Albuquerque is "in a frenzy" as six UNM athletes have been in trouble with the law in the past six months. He said his son's case has gotten "tons of attention" in the New Mexico media.

Ordenstein has since been kicked off the team by Lobos head coach Rocky Long.

"If you knew Rocky Long, you'd wonder if that was truly his decision," David Ordenstein said.

He said he thinks his son will play for the Lobos again.

"I'm just real confident that Kawika will do well enough in this situation that it would be pretty tough for the university to keep him off the football team," he said.

Kawika Ordenstein was suspended from the university three weeks before the end of classes. But David Ordenstein said the suspension will be formally appealed late in the summer.