this was impossible. However, there was no response from the investigating agency at this point. Subsequently, Makoto Hirata was arrested in January 2012, and Katsuya Takahashi in June 2012, both of whom were involved in the notary office clerk case, and the investigation into the same case was reopened. There was no evidence to support Inoue's new claim or the statements of his accomplices, and since Inoue overturned his past testimony and statements more than 16 years after the incident, the finding of the prosecutor's office was changed to death due to the side effects of anesthetics. The prosecutor's office's finding remained unchanged that the death was caused by the side effects of the anesthetic. In the first trial of Hirata, the cause of death of the office manager was not a point of contention because Hirata had been charged with the crime of arrest and confinement (without the word "fatality"). The verdict found the cause of death to be a side effect of the anesthetic, and pointed out that Inoue's testimony may have been exaggerated or confused with his memory, as he suddenly made a new statement about the cause of death. Inoue's new argument was not adopted, and on January 13, 2016, the Supreme Court rejected Hirata's appeal and confirmed it. In the first trial of Katsuya Takahashi, he was charged with manslaughter by arrest and confinement, and the defense disputed the cause of death of the office manager, so a detailed hearing was held on this issue. In addition, Ikuo Hayashi, an accomplice and former doctor, testified that Inoue's testimony was "impossible," and other accomplices also denied Inoue's testimony. On the other hand, Nakagawa's testimony was "supported by the testimony" of other accomplices, and the court found that the cause of death of the office manager was an accidental overdose of anesthetics, and did not adopt Inoue's new argument. The September 7, 2016, appeals court decision against Takahashi also upheld the first trial decision and did not adopt Inoue's new testimony. As for the reason for Inoue's new claim, the office manager's eldest son said, "It is so different from the previous explanations that I cannot believe all of it. If Nakagawa had killed the victim unrelated to Inoue, Inoue's responsibility to the victim would be lessened." Inoue also testified that he had told his defense attorney about the possibility that Nakagawa had killed the office manager