AURORA, Colo. Prosecutors gained access to the credit union account records of theater shooting suspect James Holmes before obtaining legal authority from a court, according to documents filed with the court last week.
The records were obtained from Point Loma FCU in California, one of two institutions where Holmes had accounts, according to court records. The court order for production of the records was signed by a notary but not by a judge. That document was used to compel the credit union to turn over the records.
The records could be useful at trial in verifying purchases Holmes is alleged to have made leading up to the shooting.
Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty against Holmes, who is accused of killing 12 people and wounding 58 others with gunfire in an attack on the Century Aurora 16 movie theater last summer. Holmes has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Prosecutors say the violation was a mistake and not deliberate. Aurora police detective Mark Yacano said in the court filings he drafted the production order on July 24, four days after the shooting occurred. Yacano then contacted officials at the credit union and San Diego police investigator D. Stuber. “A miscommunication somehow arose between Detective Yacano and Investigator Stuber, resulting in California officials believing a Colorado judge had already issued a Court Order for Production of Records upon the Point Loma Credit Union,” the filing states.
Because of the misunderstanding, a prosecutor in San Diego told Stuber there was no need to get a local judge’s permission. Stuber presented the unsigned order to officials at the bank and credit union, collected the records and sent them to Yacano.
Prosecutors say in the court filing that they are “in the process of creating and issuing a new affidavit and court order” to seize the records properly. They say the improperly seized records did not tell them anything new or valuable.
“[L]aw enforcement was aware of and obtained information about most of the transactions reflected within the Point Loma records by other means before the records were obtained,” the prosecution filing states.
The prosecution’s disclosure came in response to a motion by Holmes’ attorneys to keep the records out of evidence.
Attorneys on both sides will likely argue over the financial records during hearings in October.
