Laban of Jerusalem: a confusing character (perhaps) not so confusing after all

(Laban of Jerusalem, the one who features prominently in chapters two through four of the First Book of Nephi in the Book of Mormon, as opposed to Laban the Syrian, Rachel and Leah's none-too-straightforward-dealing father.)

Stuff I have thought about Laban-of-Jerusalem, in the order I have usually thought it:

1. He tried to kill (via his servants) Laman, Lemuel, Sam and Nephi. Their offense was trying to trade all of their family's worldly wealth for the Brass Plates. By this maneuver, he got to keep the wealth AND the plates. Clearly this man was drunk on power, some sort of local warlord or something; the only safe way to meet him would be the way Nephi found him after he went back: with Laban drunk and passed out on the ground.
2. Laman's first approach (before the one that nearly got them all killed) was to ask Laban for the plates. My response to this is: what?!? I mean, Lehi's kids seem to actually know this guy. Nephi just slips his name in with no preamble like his readers already know him; presumably he wrote more about him on the large plates and assumed that we would have access to those large plates for reference. But back to Laman: he really had so little clue as to what Laban's character was like that he that just thought he could walk in and ask for the plates, like that, and Laban would give them to him? Weird.
3. Later on, we find out that Laban had recorded the prophecies of Jeremiah. I also have found this weird. I mean, perhaps this is a totally different culture or something? But it has always seemed to me that people who are this evil are highly unlikely to be willing to recognize that a prophet even is a prophet, let alone be willing to record his prophecies as such.

So, this is what I've been thinking. I have been prejudiced by one slice of very bad behavior on Laban's part (the first point) and blinded to the fact that I have been given clues about what else he was like, before that (points two and three). If Lehi's kids trusted him, maybe they had a reason to trust him. Maybe he had been trustworthy up to that point; maybe he had only begun to make kill-you-now-and-ask-questions-later sorts of decisions quite recently. In short, maybe he wasn't the sort of bad guy that you know you should stay away from and you've always known you should stay away from; maybe he was a good guy, a very good guy, who got caught up in something nasty at a relatively late point.

To me, under this point of view Laban is scarier-- much scarier. I think it would have made him much scarier than we normally think of, to Nephi and his brothers, as well. This might explain why Laman and Lemuel chose to beat Nephi and Sam after they finally escaped Laban's servants; they were feeling out of control, since the situation had gone so incredibly differently than they would ever have expected.

This also makes me feel a little better about Nephi's killing Laban. It's one thing if you've got a local gang leader who is willing to use manipulation of the facts and lethal force to defend his horde; it's quite another if you have a locally prominent and socially respectable individual, who likely has the trust of most of the city, who has suddenly shown himself willing not only to lie and steal, but to resort to murder when it comes to getting his way. Extrajudicial killing, even (in some ways, especially) of bad guys, is not something I feel like I can normally get on board with; but taking out someone who is going to destabilize and undermine society like that, looks a little different to me. But I do still greatly admire Nephi for being so hesitant about it.