NEW ORLEANS — The Louisiana Supreme Court on Friday said prosecutors who filed murder charges against a Baton Rouge couple will be able to use statements the pair made to police at a hospital three days before their child died.

John and Analise Noehl were indicted March 8, 2023, in the death of their 8-week-old son Dominik. According to police, John Noehl said the boy was unresponsive and had fallen out of a rocker a few weeks earlier.

Detectives say an autopsy revealed the boy had a skull fracture, internal bleeding, broken ribs and bruises on his back.

While the boy was being treated in the hospital, police conducted separate interviews with the couple — 12 minutes with John and 18 minutes with Analise. Police did not read them their rights against self-incrimination under the Constitution. 

After the boy died, the parents were charged and asked that any statements they made not be used by prosecutors. District Judge Fred Crifasi agreed; Friday, the Supreme Court found otherwise.

Despite their sense that they were not free to go, police were not confrontational with them, the Supreme Court said.

"Both parents were allowed to leave the hospital room and ultimately the city at the conclusion of the interview. These circumstances do not rise to the level of a 'police-dominated atmosphere,'" the justices wrote in a 6-1 decision.

Justice John Michael Guidry dissented, saying police questioned the pair while they were under duress and did not tell them they were free to go.

Online obituaries show that John Noehl died in March at age 37.