The pretrial period is important for a number of reasons, for example, to discuss whether the accused can be released on bail, and to decide whether a plea should be entered.

Most federal and state court cases are resolved before trial by entering into a plea agreement.

The 5th Amendment stipulation to use a grand jury for indictments applies to federal but not to state courts. States often rely on preliminary hearings before judges rather than juries.

Explains the reasons for setting bail, conditions that may be put in place, as well as the consequence of not attending a later court date.

Responding to pretrial publicity about a high profile case requires lawyers to use various tools to try to mitigate this factor in order to have a fair trial, but it may not always be successful.