I thought this was perfectly correct grammar in American, I know how you guys like to say things like ‘I could care less’ which to my British ears sounds like the opposite of what they intended to say.
To me, the phrases "I could care less" and "I could not care less" have equivalent meaning, like the words "flammable" and "inflammable" that look like they should be opposites. The first phrase is a little less awkward to say, IMO.
The phrase in the above article, "...those convicted of the death penalty prior will still be executed" is just plain bad English, no matter what nationality your ears have.