Friday, May 3, 2024 
Friday, May 3, 2024
June 16, 2020
The long-awaited trial of Calgary home renovator Bruce Hopkins on industry regulatory charges is on hold once more.
Hopkins was scheduled to face a two-week trial beginning Monday on 22 allegations under the provincial Fair Trading Act.
But Crown prosecutor Tony Bell said because of COVID-19 restrictions on court trials, the hearing before a provincial court judge has once again been adjourned.
Hopkins was supposed to stand trial last year, but the failure to book an out-of-town judge to hear the case forced its postponement.
Hopkins originally pleaded guilty to the 22 charges, but had a change of heart and applied to withdraw his admissions.
In May 2018, Calgary provincial court Judge Mark Tyndale, who heard the guilty pleas, allowed Hopkins to rescind the pleas because of a potential apprehension of bias if the matter continued before the local judge.
In striking the guilty pleas, Tyndale noted Hopkins, through one of his companies, may have done work at another Calgary judge’s home.
As a result, Tyndale said, it would be better to have an out-of-town judge hear the case, meaning Hopkins’ guilty pleas before him were no longer valid.
Bell said the case has been adjourned six weeks, but he hopes in the interim he and Hopkins’ lawyer can arrange a trial date.
Keep reading in the Calgary Herald
Check out the video gallery here
