Not Just Kings
But it wasn’t just kings who were seen as a great powers, priests were too. This was mainly because of the great importance these people put on religion, which is probably why kings sometimes were called priests.
Punishable Crimes
Seeing as the Mayans sacrificed people for the gods, what would you expect from them for someone who intentionally broke the law? Murder, arson and acts against the gods received the death penalty. However, if the action was a mistake then they could reduce the punishment.