St. Joseph County | Mijell L. Redding, 31, has been discharged from parole after having completed his sentence in the line of duty death on April 23, 2006 of Corporal Scott Lee Severns of the South Bend Police Department.

Redding was originally charged with murder, attempted robbery and assisting a criminal. He later pleaded guilty to attempted robbery and on October 3, 2007, St. Joseph Superior Judge John M. Marnocha sentenced Redding to 45 years in prison. After the Indiana Court of Appeals reversed the sentence in 2008, Redding was subsequently resentenced to 30 years and released on parole for two years on March 24, 2017.

The accomplice who shot Severns, Jeffrey L. Finley, was then 17-years-old and charged as an adult. He later pleaded guilty to murder and attempted murder, and is currently serving a 65-year sentence at the Indiana State Prison.

Corporal Severns, 36, died from gunshot wounds he suffered two days earlier while off duty in a parking lot at 1433 Northside Boulevard near the Northshore Apartments. As he and a female friend were walking to their vehicle, two men approached and attempted to rob them. Severns drew his gun, shielding his friend before being shot and returned gunfire, wounding one suspect.

Severns, a third-generation officer with the agency, had served for nearly nine years. He was survived by his parents, sister and half brother. He is the 14th officer of the South Bend Police Department and one of the 21 law enforcement officers to be killed in the line of duty in St. Joseph County.

There are currently 32 offenders awaiting trial, serving their sentences or on parole for their involvement in the line of duty deaths of 29 Indiana law enforcement officers.