Culture: The conflict of cultures that results looks like the beginnings of civil war. On one side are those in power whose power reinforces their ability to create and maintain their social position. On the other are the prophets who threaten the lifestyle of those in power. To safeguard their positions and remove their social critics, those in power secretly murder their critics.
Equally important is the fact that these judges promptly went outside the traditional legal structure. Mormon states that they did not have the power to execute the prophets without consulting Lachoneus2, so their actions constituted rebellion against the ultimate political authority. In doing so, they ignored and therefore undermined the Nephite legal system. This scofflaw behavior would have extreme consequences. They undoubtedly murdered the prophets to preserve their own preferred place in society, but the ultimate effect was to dissolve the Nephite polity. They would not preserve their positions; they would destroy them along with the rest of Nephite society.