Sadly the news is almost always wrong in 80% of the content in any article. Reading hte news these days is the best way to be uninformed.
Chances are, as with all news articles, it made no effort to actual explain to you the facts. Instead it likely had some agenda it was trying to sell you on and make that point. Likely either how much america sucks, or how offended we should be by the death penalty. So actually explaining it honestly wouldnt have served whatever the intended purpose is.