A mistrial has been declared in the strange case of the stolen Terracotta warrior thumb after a jury in Philadephia was unable to reach a verdict on the charges presented to them. Michael Rohana, a 25-year-old man from Delaware, admitted to breaking off the digit from the $4.5 million statue during an “ugly sweater party” at the Franklin Institute museum in 2017. However, his lawyer argued that the charges against Rohana — including the theft and concealment of an object of cultural heritage — were too severe with him facing up to 30 years in prison. “These charges were made for art thieves — think like Ocean’s Eleven or Mission: Impossible,” said federal public defender Catherine C. Henry. Rohana “wasn’t in ninja clothing sneaking around the museum. He was a drunk kid in a bright green ugly Christmas sweater”. The crime occurred on December 21st, 2017. At the time, the exhibit, called “Terracotta Warriors of the First Emperor,” was closed, however, the door to the exhibit was open with only a black rope held up by two stanchions separating Rohana from 10 terracotta soldiers that had been made more than 2,000 years ago to guard China’s first emperor Qin Shi Huang in the afterlife.

Once inside, Rohana used his smartphone’s flashlight to look around and snapped a selfie with his arm around one of the warriors. Before leaving, he pried off the statue’s left thumb and concealed it inside his pocket.