Cezoram was appointed chief judge over the Nephites around 30 B.C., when Nephi, the son of Helaman, gave up the judgment-seat to preach the word of God for the rest of his life, his brother Lehi doing the same. Nephi had grown weary of the people’s iniquity: their laws and government rested on the voice of the people, and those who chose evil outnumbered those who chose good, so the laws had become corrupted and the people were ripening for destruction (Helaman 5:1-4).
In the sixty-sixth year of the reign of the judges, Cezoram was murdered as he sat on the judgment-seat, killed by an unknown hand. His son, whom the people had appointed in his place, was murdered the same year (Helaman 6:15). The killers were not found, but the record names them as the band formed by Kishkumen and Gadianton, the Gadianton robbers (Helaman 6:18); it was they who murdered both the chief judge Cezoram and his son while they sat in the judgment-seat (Helaman 6:19).