Superior Court Judge Elden S Fox, sitting in Los Angeles, said a pre-trial hearing needed to be held on 26 August, after which the actress's trial would go ahead within 30 days.

Ms Ryder was arrested in December in Beverly Hills department store Saks for allegedly stealing $6,000 worth of goods.

She was also allegedly carrying a controlled morphine-based painkiller.

Ms Ryder claims she has receipts for the clothing

The 30-year-star of films including Girl, Interrupted and Heathers has pleaded innocent to charges of theft, vandalism and possession of a controlled substance.

If she is convicted of the charges against her, Ms Ryder could face three years and eight months in prison.

Ms Ryder, who is free on $20,000 bail, did not attend Tuesday's hearing.

The hearing on 26 August will deal with questions relating to the admissibility of evidence.

It will also look into prosecutor Ann Rundle's allegations that Ms Ryder's laywer Mark Geragos had not presented her with certain pieces of evidence.

Mr Geragos denies the allegation.

'Inaccuracies'

In June, Judge Fox rejected attempts by Mr Geragos to have the prosecutors in the case thrown out.

Mr Geragos claimed Ms Ryder was being prosecuted because of her celebrity and wanted the existing prosecution lawyers replaced with ones from the California attorney general's office.

The actress's next movie appearance will be in Mr Deeds with Adam Sandler

However, Judge Fox dismissed Mr Geragos' claims, including his allegation that a prosecution spokeswoman had made inaccurate statements to the media.

Mr Geragos said district attorney spokeswoman Sandi Gibbons had wrongly described a Saks security video early in the case.

It had been alleged that Ms Ryder was seen on the video cutting off anti-theft tags from items.

But Mr Geragos maintained there was no such scene on the videotape.

Judge Fox ruled on 6 June there was enough evidence to require Ms Ryder to stand trial.

His decision came after a hearing in which five prosecution witnesses testified.

They included a Saks security officer, who told the court that she saw Ms Ryder kneel on a dressing room floor and cut sensor tags off shop items.