May the court require the defendant or defense counsel to disclose whether a defendant has four or more prior convictions?

No. A defendant may not be required to surrender one constitutional right (the right not to incriminate himself or herself) to obtain the benefit of another constitutional right (the right to appointed counsel). See generally Simmons v. United States, 390 U.S. 377, 394 (1968). Requiring defense counsel to provide prior record information about a client would infringe on the client’s right to maintain the confidentiality of information obtained by the attorney in the course of representation. See Rev’d Rules of Prof’l Conduct R. 1.6 (duty of confidentiality); 1998 Formal Ethics Opinion 5 (1998) (recognizing confidentiality of information about client’s prior convictions and citing related ethics opinions).