Lachoneus, the son of Lachoneus the elder, filled his father’s seat as chief judge and governor of the Nephites in the thirtieth year, around AD 30 (3 Nephi 6:19). His father, with the army commander Gidgiddoni, had earlier established peace in the land (3 Nephi 6:6).
Under the younger Lachoneus the people divided by rank according to riches and learning, and the resulting inequality broke up the church in the thirtieth year (3 Nephi 6:12, 14). Men inspired from heaven preached repentance, but corrupt chief judges, high priests, and lawyers were angry at their testimony and put many of them to death secretly, contrary to the law, which required the governor’s signature for any execution. When these judges were brought to trial, their friends and kindred joined them and entered into a secret covenant administered by the devil to combine against righteousness (3 Nephi 6:28). They covenanted to destroy the governor and set a king over the land (3 Nephi 6:30).
They did not establish a king. Instead, in that same thirtieth year, they murdered the chief judge upon the judgment seat, and the people separated into tribes by family, kindred, and friends, each tribe appointing its own leader; thus the central government was destroyed (3 Nephi 7:1). After the government fell, Nephi, son of Nephi, went among the people testifying of repentance and remission of sins through faith in Jesus Christ, casting out devils and raising his stoned brother from the dead, and baptizing those who repented (3 Nephi 7:15-26). The more righteous part of the people, who had received the prophets and not shed the blood of the saints, were the ones spared (3 Nephi 10:12).