A man accused of hitting a police officer with a stolen pickup truck has been set free after a "scandalous" delay in his trial that a B.C. judge blames on a conscious government attack on court budgets.

B.C. Supreme Court Justice Mark McKewan stayed six charges against Michael Edward Ellis last week, after the accused man spent 31 months in jail while he waited to go to trial.

"He has served the time equivalent of a seven-and-a-half year sentence. This is to say that Mr. Ellis has spent so much time waiting for trial that he is already within the range of conceivable sentences for the offences, were he to be found guilty," the judge wrote in his decision.

"That is scandalous."

Ellis was arrested on March 3, 2009, after police say he failed to pull over for a roadside stop while driving a stolen Ford pickup truck in the southern town of Midway. Mounties say he hit an officer with the truck, and was found to be carrying methamphetamine when he was eventually searched.

He also faced one charge of uttering a threat related to an incident later that same month.

But scheduling problems and a busy court docket kept pushing back the date of Ellis's preliminary inquiry and trial in violation of his Charter rights, according to the judge.

"The theme of inadequate resources is implicit in all the twisting and turning that took place," McKewan wrote.

"This is not a situation of rapid population growth overwhelming existing resources, but of conscious government policy to reduce the courts' ability to function."

The Kootenay region, which once had five full-time judges, now has just three and has suffered "radical cuts" to support services, according to McKewan.

The judge described his decision to stay Ellis's charges as "thoroughly unsatisfactory," but added that, "it is a consequence of government decisions that have seriously impaired the provincial court's ability to schedule matters of a week or more within a constitutionally tolerable period of time, and of the way that court has attempted to accommodate those constraints."

Court backlog gets cases tossed across B.C.

For the last two years, judges across the province say that delays in the system have forced them to stay proceedings against suspected criminals ranging from alleged drunk drivers to drug dealers and a man accused of shooting a puppy to death.

Last month, B.C.'s associate chief judge for provincial courts wrote that the backlog should "alarm and concern" the community after a cocaine dealer was set free in Prince George.

In a statement to ctvbc.ca, Attorney General Shirley Bond said she was "concerned" by the ruling.

She pointed out that the government added 14 new judges to the provincial court system in the last year and is increasing administration staffing.

The scarcity of resources was addressed Monday during the throne speech in the Victoria legislature, when the government acknowledged that the public lacks confidence in the system.

The speech said capacity will be added to the courts by means of new legislation planned by the government. It will relax restrictions that limit the service time of senior part-time judges.

Further, the government will move to reappoint retired judges on the recommendation of the Judicial Council of B.C. to provide "surge capacity."

With files from The Canadian Press