twist on the death penalty (fiction sci fi)

ok there is this guy.  he is sentenced to death and he is the first death row convict to be executed since the discovery of immortality.  under the current law of the time the prisoner must be executed and then resurrected and turned free ... you died ... you severed your time ... really free no record ... new name if desired.  But someone wants this prisoner dead.  so much so they are arguing that this prisoner's sentence be reduced to life ( practically meaning death by old age)