In April 1999, Barrett and seven other Youth Defence members were convicted of public order offences for a protest described at the time as a "mini-riot" outside the Adelaide Hospital that had taken place on 16 May 1998. Despite requests from hospital staff, the son of a dying woman and Gardaí to be quiet, a Youth Defence protest outside the hospital got louder and lead to "pandemonium" when Gardaí intervened. Some of the convictions were successfully appealed, two years later, and while Barret's appeal was disallowed, he was given the benefit of the Probation Act, meaning no criminal conviction was recorded against him.