This scenario comes from a past episode of the original Law & Order television show. Keep in mind this is a fictional premise, but it serves as a terrific example of the scope of attorney client privilege. A man accused of killing two teenage girls is appointed a public defender lawyer, as he can't afford to hire his own. The first attorney he gets quits because she is scared by this very creepy client. So he is appointed a new public defender. Police begin to suspect that he might be a serial killer, responsible for many other missing young girls. The man admits to prosecutors that he did in fact kill 14 other teenage girls. The prosecuting attorney offers him a life sentence rather than the death penalty if he can somehow prove that he did kill these other girls. At this point, the killer gestures to his public defender lawyer, saying he can prove it. The public defender admits that his client told him about killing these other girls, and told him where the bodies are stored. In fact, out of curiosity, the public defender went to see the bodies for himself as proof, which he admits was inappropriate. The prosecutors want the public defender to tell them where the bodies are so that the parents of hundreds of missing teenage girls can bury their daughters if theirs was one of his victims. But the public defender refuses to give up this information, as he says it is covered by attorney-client privilege. And his client will not allow him to disclose the location of the bodies, as he sees it as his sick way of continuing to torment his victim's parents. The prosecutors believed there was adequate reason for the public defender to break his client's privilege. But even though the public defender knew that he probably wouldn't get much more than a reprimand for breaking his client's privilege because of the severity of the case, he was steadfast in maintaining his client's right to the privilege and would not disclose the location of the 14 teenage girls' bodies. Prosecutors charged the public defender with assisting criminal activity because he went to the location of the bodies and then concealed it upon leaving. He was found guilty by a jury, but no one could force him to disclose the information he held under the attorney-client privilege. This story is a long one, and my summary may have left out bits and pieces, but it represents the essence of the attorney client privilege and the rules of confidentiality. Why couldn't the public defender be forced to disclose the sensitive information he held? Why was he so adamant against breaking his client's privilege