BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KGET) -- A Kern County judge has appointed a special master to review the contents of a cellphone seized from one of the defendants charged in connection with the death of a woman shot after tracking down her stolen Dodge Hellcat. The special master -- an outside legal expert -- was requested after it was discovered the phone contained confidential text messages between the defendant and his attorney. Judge Michael G. Bush on Thursday appointed Kelly Francisco, one of seven attorneys listed on the State Bar's special master roster for Kern County. Prosecutor Christine Antonios said she has no interest in the attorney-client text messages -- but wants to know what, if any, information the phone contains that is relevant to the case. The phone in question belongs to Joseph Bush IV, who is charged along with David Tyrone Thompson and Giovanni Garcia-Viscarra in connection with the March 2023 shooting of Victoria Anna Marie Hampton, 61. In October, Antonios received a download of the phone's contents and found messages between Bush and Eric Le -- an attorney at the Law Office of Mark Anthony Raimondo, according to a court filing. She immediately stopped reading and contacted Le. Raimondo then filed a motion to remove the District Attorney's Office from the case; if approved, the state Attorney General's Office would likely take over. On Thursday, after hearing from all attorneys involved in the case, Bush scheduled a hearing on the motion for next month and postponed a preliminary hearing to January. Hampton was found wounded March 19, 2023, on Ginger Drive, north of White Lane and west of New Stine Road, and died April 1, 2023. Police say Hampton’s Dodge was stolen and she tracked it using an Apple AirTag -- then was shot while confronting the defendants. Thompson, the accused shooter, is charged with murder, carjacking and vehicle theft. Garcia-Viscarra and Bush are charged with carjacking, vehicle theft and conspiracy.