Rule 2.65 Pretrial matters

If you ask for a jury trial, the magistrate (the judge handling your case) can require certain issues to be brought up and decided before the trial actually starts. This gives the court a chance to sort out problems or questions ahead of time, instead of dealing with them once the jury trial is already underway.

In practice, this means your lawyer (or you, if you don't have one) may need to raise certain motions, objections, or legal questions early. The magistrate sets the schedule for this. Handling these matters before trial helps keep the trial itself running smoothly and avoids delays once the jury is in place.