Last month, the state of Texas carried out its first execution this year. A regular Tablet contributor who befriended the man involved, recalls their unlikely friendship and the life that ended with a lethal injection In the execution chamber of the Texas State Penitentiary at Huntsville, known more usually by its nickname of the “Walls Unit”, at 18.53 on 20 January, Richard Masterson was pronounced dead. His was the first execution by the state this year and the 196th since 2005.Masterson was 29 when he was convicted, and would have been 44 next month. I had known him for 12 years and just over nine months. A friendship that began with a letter on 3 April 2003 ended with a death which, perhaps strangely, has affected me more than that of others. This is, in part, due to the