He's right you know

Well he’s not technically wrong

There are several reasons this is wrong actually. Chief most is that he was able to appeal. The fact you can appeal means you are... alive. So IF we say that his “life” ended- he would only be free for as long as he were dead. Being no loner dead- he is no longer free. You do not start a new life when you are declared dead and come back. It is the same life. You don’t get a new birth certificate or social security number. You were DECLARED dead- not actually dead. A mistake. The same as if you are declared missing from prison they don’t get to add a charge of prison escape to your sentence just because they couldn’t find you. There is precedent all over the world for this, and several higher US courts have ruled that if you’re alive enough to to appeal you are alive enough to serve your sentence.