Jahmaal James, 26, entered a surprise guilty plea in a Brampton, Ont., court yesterday. Because he spent three years and nine months awaiting trial - and got a two-for-one credit for the “dead time” - he has effectively served all the seven-year, seven-month sentence he was meted.

This week, Conservative legislation to eliminate the two-for-one pretrial credit took force, meaning that had Mr. James been arrested today, he would have spent up to four more years in jail.

Mr. James was arrested in 2006, as police rounded up 18 young Muslims in the Toronto area.