People v. Belge
Onondaga County Court
372 N.Y.S.2d 798 (1975), aff'd 376 N.Y.S.2d 771 (1975)
Attorney Belge, representing a client charged with murder and pursuing an insanity defense, learned from his client the locations of other undisclosed murder victims and personally confirmed their existence, later offering this information to the prosecutor in exchange for accepting the insanity plea, which the prosecutor rejected; after the client was convicted and Belge publicly acknowledged withholding the information based on attorney-client privilege, he was charged with violating a law requiring disclosure of unattended deaths.
Whether a client's Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination also exempts his attorney from disclosures that would incriminate the client.