The time period following this first appearance and before a trial is generally known as a pretrial appearance or a status conference. This gives the judge an opportunity to understand how the discovery process is proceeding. It also gives the court an opportunity to understand what type of challenges are being made by the defense or what type of legal disputes may have come into play that need to be resolved.
At the end of this pretrial period, when it has been determined that complete discovery has been produced by the State and the defense, then the case is scheduled for a trial.