NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — The first of two men charged with murdering Norfolk State University student Jahari George was all set to face trial Tuesday in Norfolk Circuit Court.

The judge was on the bench, the prosecutor present and defendant Camari Warren, 20, sat next to his attorney.

The problem? Out of the 56 people summoned to be a part of the jury pool, only 21 showed up.

“I am not sure this is going to happen today,” Circuit Court Judge Robert Rigney said at the start of the day.

In order to seat a jury in a Virginia felony case, you need to select 12 jurors from a panel of no less than 20.

While Rigney decided to move ahead with a process known as “voir dire” to try and go forward with the trial Tuesday, both sides were not able to agree on 12 jurors and two alternates after two hours.

At noon, it was decided to adjourn for the day and try again Wednesday.

“Of course, it’s frustrating to all the litigants,” Commonwealth’s Attorney Ramin Fatehi said. “Hopefully, we’ll have enough people show up and enough people who are qualified to be neutral jurors on that case.”

He said this is not the first time this has happened. He wants to remind people jury duty is not simply a suggestion.

“It’s one of the four duties we have as citizens,” Fatehi said. “It’s to vote, it’s to serve in the military when we’re called upon, it’s to pay our taxes and it’s to be a juror.”

While he said there can be valid excuses to ignoring a jury summons, you can be fined between $50 and $200 if you can’t prove it.

In addition, he said it can delay justice.

“It’s a huge deal to people who are waiting for their day in court, whether they’re the accused or whether they’re victims,” Fatehi said. “And no, it’s not always convenient, but that’s what public service is. And it’s one of those things that we as citizens have to do for each other. Imagine if it were you as the victim or you as the accused, and there weren’t enough people there, and you had to wait ’til another day to find out what your fate was.”