The social dynamics of this situation are fascinating. We have Nephi standing on a raised platform. Below, and without the fence, is a crowd. In the crowd are Gadianton judges and other people. These are the people who have been the “voice of the people” to put the Gadianton judges in office, yet they appear to have sympathy to Nephi. How is this that the people should be so divided?
This division of opinion is not at all surprising. The establishment of their government was a statistical majority of the people, and it was an acceptance of a social/political way of life. Nephi is a person, and one who not only had the respect of the people when he was a chief judge, but one whose efforts among the Lamanites regained the city and many of the lands of Zarahemla to the Nephites. Nephi had to have been a personal hero. Therefore, the people would have been protective of Nephi the person, even when they had begun to move away from the religion that Nephi represented.