Is prayer asking that the laws of the Universe be annulled on behalf of a single person who doesn't deserve it?

No. Cause and effect is not as rigid as some might think. Nor is the future fixed. Effects frequently depend sensitively on initial conditions, for example with epilepsy, and that's particularly relevant because of the links between religious experience and temporal lobe seizures, and quantum effects may also play a part. There is also an issue in seeing time and space similarly.