Legal Question in Criminal Law in California

You (and your attorney) are going to have to file a motion in court to have the phone released. The police can hold it for evidence for a reasonable period of time, but there may be things your lawyer can do to speed up the process.

File a motion in the court, but don't expect to succeed as long as the police and DA say they need it for evidence. You are always entitled to represent yourself in court. Whether you should is a different issue. The conventional wisdom is that an attorney will be able to do a better job and get a better outcome. Prosecutors and judges don�t like dealing with ProPers, unless you are simply pleading guilty, not defending the case. If serious about hiring counsel to help in this, and if this is in SoCal courts, feel free to contact me. I've been doing these cases for many years.