Now that step-mom has an atty,(no statement)
if SM tells her atty where Kyron is,is he obligated
under atty/client privledge to tell the police
or must he stay quiet?
It is a privileged attorney-client communication, so ethically he must stay quiet unless the client authorizes him to tell.
If Kyron is still alive, "(b) A lawyer may reveal information relating to the representation of a client to the extent the lawyer reasonably believes necessary: (1) to prevent reasonably certain death or substantial bodily harm . . . .." [See link at end of this post; copied from
ABA MRPC Rule 1.6 Confidentiality of Information]
But if he is dead, the attorney cannot tell.
What does the attorney have to lose if he tells anyway? (1) His license to practice law, (2) malpractice lawsuit, (3) his fellow attorneys would despise him because it would erode client confidence in the attorney-client privilege.
Is there a way around this -- even if unethical -- which protects the attorney? Yes! He can tell LE anonymously, where the body is hidden. In this conversation, he can pretend to be someone who came across it while on a excursion of his or her own, totally by accident. He should wait until some time has passed, so his client will not put two and two together.
Problem is that he will have to disguise his voice and call from a location untraceable to him. His best bet is to secretly leave his house in the wee hours, drive somewhere several hours away, make the call, returning to his office at the usual time in the morning.
Another problem is that of whether he can sufficiently disguise his voice, because it will be recorded. He cannot involve another person -- that's the highway to being found out.
Or he could send an anonymous note to a newspaper or other media, or directly to the police. That would be a better plan, especially if he can make absolutely sure that it could never be traced to him. One way to do that would be for him to leave his house secretly in the wee hours and mail the note far away from there, and return to his office at the usual time.
Either way, even if he judges the risk of being caught to be tiny, the potential personal consequences to the attorney are huge. Low risk + heavy consequence = attorney will probably keep his mouth shut.
Here is a good article which explains the situation:
http://www.llrx.com/features/wrongfulconvictionconfidentiality.htm