Calgary home renovator Bruce Hopkins had his constitutional rights violated because of the length of time it took him to get to trial on Fair Trade Act charges, a judge ruled Tuesday in staying the allegations.

Provincial court Judge Randal Brandt said the total time Hopkins’ prosecution took when subtracting delays attributed to the defence amounted to nearly a four-year period, far exceeding the 18 months established by the Supreme Court.

Brandt said while there were periods when Hopkins was to blame for delays moving the case forward, they didn’t reduce the total time to the 17 months submitted by Crown prosecutor Tony Bell.

Defence lawyer Kip Popowich successfully argued Hopkins’ Charter right to be tried in a timely fashion was violated and the only remedy was a judicial stay of the case against him.

Bell had argued part of the delay was as a result of Hopkins pleading guilty to the charges he faced, before changing his mind and applying to withdraw the pleas .

He also said a delay caused when an out-of-town judge wasn’t available for one trial date amounted to an exceptional circumstance contemplated by the Supreme Court when establishing guidelines in its Jordan decision.

In that ruling, the nation’s top court said trials in provincial court must be held within 18 months and in Court of Queen’s Bench within 30 months, or the presumption would be an individual’s right to a prompt trial was violated.

Hopkins faced 22 charges under the Fair Trading Act involving allegations he unlawfully entered into contracts by failing to comply with the requirements set out in the prepaid contracting business licensing regulation.

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