There were some, we imagine, who did repent and were forgiven. Others who transgressed were haughty and unashamed. They would not promise to gave up their evil ways as they were exhorted to do.
Alma then placed them at the mercy of the king, and asked that he pass sentence upon the guilty.
It appears that their government then was a theocracy, or a government which received its immediate direction of God, through His servants. Of this, we are about to learn. But neither the fear of the civil law, nor the divine one, restrained the wrongdoers from the wicked paths they pursued.