Agency’s definition of “moral turpitude” unchanged by case law.

A Department of Driver Services regulation prohibits recertification of a DUI Program Instructor or Director who has been convicted of a crime of “moral turpitude.”  At the time the regulation was promulgated, Georgia courts held that the phrase encompassed shoplifting, and that a witness could be impeached through evidence that he or she committed such a crime.  Subsequent case law did not change the meaning of moral turpitude, but rather clarified that impeachment of witnesses through evidence of prior crimes was no longer governed by the moral turpitude standard.  Accordingly, the Department was required to deny a recertification application of an applicant who had been convicted of shoplifting.