be off the hook
小沢一郎「国民の生活が第一」代表が勝ち取った「無罪判決」から２日後、側近だった３人も、無罪を求め上訴審（appellate trial）で抗弁をはじめました。
be off the hookの由来は釣りや電話（受話器がはずれるところ）など諸説ありますが、"Relieved of a duty, burden, responsibility, or pressure"という意味です。「無罪を勝ち取る」「嫌疑をはらす」「天下晴れて自由の身になる」などの訳が考えられます。（UG）
Ex-aides want to be off the hook like Ozawa
Three former aides to Ichiro Ozawa on Wednesday urged the Tokyo High Court to reverse their guilty verdicts over the political money scandal involving the former Democratic Party of Japan president, saying they had no motive to conduct any wrongdoing.
The move came two days after the high court ruled in favor of Ozawa, who now heads the party Kokumin no Seikatsu ga Daiichi (People's Life First), upholding a not-guilty verdict by a lower court over his involvement in falsifying political funding reports.
Wednesday's comments were made during the opening session of the aides' appellate trial. They are Lower House member Tomohiro Ishikawa, Takanori Okubo and Mitsutomo Ikeda.
