WARREN — Former city assistant prosecutor Nick Graham’s attorney, David Betras, said Monday that Law Director Enzo Cantalamessa’s decision to fire Graham was “retaliatory and politically motivated,” and is related to Cantalamessa’s wife’s failed May run for Trumbull County Common Pleas judge.

Cantalamessa said Monday evening that he had no comment on the allegation.

Graham was fired earlier this month after being placed on unpaid administrative leave on Aug. 15, apparently as a result of an Aug. 7 incident in which a fight broke out at Graham’s Fairway Drive NE home during his son’s 19th birthday party.

Police body camera footage from the party showed what was described as “a lot of underage drinking.”

Ryan A. Boano, 18, of Struthers Road, Lowellville, was arrested during the incident and later pleaded not guilty in Warren Municipal Court to one count of felonious assault.

During the time of the fight, Graham was on sick leave that started Aug. 1 and lasted through Aug. 14.

“The only thing known for certain is was that a large group of kids from Poland, including one wearing a ski mask and carrying an open bottle of rum, crashed the party. Graham immediately and repeatedly asked them to leave,” Betras said. “They refused and then assaulted Nick and his son. When police arrived Graham told them what had happened. Here is what I know: Graham and his family did absolutely nothing wrong.”

Betras contends the incident was not the reason Graham was fired from the Warren City Law Department, where he worked for 22 years, but rather that he was fired because he did not support Cantalamessa’s wife, Dawn Cantalamessa, when she ran for Trumbull County Common Pleas judge in the May 3 Democractic primary.

Cantalamessa said at the time of Graham’s firing that “the law department has decided to move in a different direction.”

Betras he and his firm, Betras, Kopp & Marketo, will pursue all “legal remedies” on behalf of Graham.