Aurora detectives seized bank records of theater shooting suspect James Holmes without obtaining a judge’s permission, prosecutors acknowledged in a court filing this week.

The records were obtained from Point Loma Federal Credit Union in California, one of two banks where Holmes had accounts and detectives sought financial records. According to the filing, the court order for production of the bank records was signed by a notary but not by a judge. That document was then used to compel the credit union to turn over the records.

“[T]he People recently discovered the production of records for defendant’s Point Loma Credit Union records was never signed by a magistrate or judge in either Colorado or California,” prosecutors write in the court filing, submitted Wednesday along with dozens of other responses to defense motions in the case.

Prosecutors say the violation was a mistake and not deliberate. According to this week’s court filing, Aurora police detective Mark Yacano drew up 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, according to the filing.

“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 bank officials, collected the records and sent them to Yacano.

A report by Stuber that could shed more light on the seizure is attached to this week’s court filing but is entirely redacted.

It is unclear what kind of impact the records problem will have on the case.

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. Regardless, they contend that the improperly seized records didn’t 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.

Still, the records could be useful at trial in double-verifying purchases Holmes is alleged to have made leading up to the shooting.

The prosecution’s disclosure came in response to a motion by Holmes’ attorneys to keep the bank records out of evidence. Holmes’ motion, though, made no mention of the unsigned records order. Instead, it argued that the order was overbroad and the evidence presented to obtain it wasn’t specific enough.

“Mr. Holmes asserts that the orders were invalid and evidence seized as a result should be suppressed,” the defense motion, filed last month, states. “… In addition, all fruits and derivatives of those illegal seizures should also be suppressed.”

Attorneys on both sides will likely argue over the bank records during hearings in October.

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, an indication that his attorneys will not argue at trial that Holmes is not the culprit.

John Ingold: 303-954-1068, jingold@denverpost.com or twitter.com/john_ingold