"It is difficult to get a discharge without conviction in an assault case like this, but when you combine the background, the record of the defendant, the guilty plea, the desire to go to Mr Eccleston and face him, the letters that he has written, it all needs to be taken into context," Mr Lawson said.
"In one letter he wrote, 'he understands what he has done and is ashamed of his primitive responses to his circumstances'."
"This is not a case for one law for one person and a different law for someone else. It's simply Mr Barker fitting the criteria of a discharge and in my submission he does," he said.
Basketball opportunities overseas and travel requirements for his job in the entertainment industry were at risk if convicted, Mr Lawson said.
The case was adjourned by Judge Maree Mackenzie until Friday so she could consider the discharge application.