TENNESSEE - Tennessee lawmakers have approved a new law known as Savanna’s Law, which creates a public registry of persistent domestic violence offenders within the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation. House Bill 1200, passed earlier this year on April 16, 2025, is aimed at improving public safety while also supporting family violence prevention efforts across the state. While the legislation has been on the books for months, it officially takes effect on Thursday, January 1, 2026.
Under the law, the TBI is required to establish and maintain an online registry containing identifying information for individuals convicted of repeated offenses against domestic abuse victims. The registry will include the offender’s name, date of birth, conviction date, county or counties of conviction, and a current photograph. To protect privacy and prevent misuse, the publicly accessible registry will not display addresses, Social Security numbers, driver license numbers, or other state or federal identification numbers.
Courts will be required to order registration when a defendant is convicted of an offense against a domestic abuse victim and has at least one prior qualifying conviction. Once ordered, court clerks must transmit certified conviction records and the offender’s date of birth to the TBI within seven days. Individuals placed on the registry must pay a one-time $150 registration fee, with $50 retained by the local court clerk for administration and $100 directed to the Department of Finance and Administration’s Office of Criminal Justice Programs to fund grants for family violence prevention and intervention services.
During the process to approve the new law, Amendment #2 significantly revised the timeline for removal from the registry, extending how long offenders remain listed based on the number of prior convictions. Offenders with one prior conviction will remain on the registry for five years, those with two prior convictions for seven years, those with three prior convictions for ten years, and those with four or more prior convictions for up to twenty years following their most recent conviction.
Savanna’s Law applies only to offenses committed on or after January 1, 2026, though earlier convictions may still be counted as prior offenses for registration purposes. A fiscal review by the Tennessee General Assembly estimates the registry will initially include more than 1,800 offenders statewide and generate dedicated funding for prevention programs, while requiring additional staffing and infrastructure at the TBI to support long-term administration of the registry.
Background and Ties to Rutherford County - Savanna’s Law is named in memory of Savanna Puckett, a Robertson County sheriff’s deputy who was murdered in a domestic violence-related case, highlighting the deadly consequences of repeat domestic abuse and the need for stronger tracking of persistent offenders. The case is tied to Rutherford County because the suspect, James Jackson Conn, was located and arrested at a home in Smyrna with assistance from Rutherford County law enforcement before being transported back to Robertson County to face charges.
On the morning following Deputy Puckett’s death, agents with the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation, along with deputies from the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office and officers from the Smyrna Police Department, arrived at the Odom Court home of James Conn in Smyrna to execute a search warrant. The operation quickly escalated into an hours-long standoff.
To bring the situation to an end, SWAT officers with the Rutherford County Sheriff’s Office entered the home and took Conn into custody without further incident.
Following his arrest, Conn was transported approximately one hour north to the Robertson County Jail in Springfield, Tennessee, where an additional charge of especially aggravated burglary was filed.
Conn remained incarcerated while awaiting trial. On August 3, 2023, James Jackson Conn, then 31 years old, was convicted in Robertson County of first-degree murder, aggravated arson, and especially aggravated burglary. Robertson County is also the county where Deputy Puckett lived and served.
Conn received a life sentence for the murder, a 30-year sentence for aggravated arson related to setting the deputy’s home on fire, and a 12-year sentence for especially aggravated burglary stemming from the break-in. His life sentence was retroactively applied to January 24, 2022—the day of his arrest—one day after Deputy Puckett died on January 23, 2022. The sentences for aggravated arson and especially aggravated burglary are set to begin on March 16, 2081. At that time, Conn will be 86 years old. His full sentence will not conclude until he reaches the age of 116.
Photo of Conn and Smyrna home where the TBI arrested him below...
