Gen. Petraeus unlikely to face court-martial "I've never seen adultery charged as a stand-alone offense," said Gary Solis, a former Marine prosecutor, judge advocate and now an adjunct professor of law at Georgetown University. And the chance he would be brought back to active duty for court-martial is zero. Not because he's Gen. Petraeus. But very seldom are officers brought back unless the conduct has a link to the military. Eugene R. Fidell, who teaches military law at Yale University, said, "it's very unlikely he would be disciplined, for either current or past conduct." The situation for Gen. John R. Allen, the current commander of U.S. and NATO troops in Afghanistan, is slightly different because he remains on active duty. Opinions differed on whether, if he were accused of adultery, Allen would face charges, even though there have been no indications that he was involved with someone in his command. "Assuming the relationship was adulterous," said Jonathan Turley, a law professor at George Washington University who also has tried many cases under military law, "it would be extremely unlikely to see the case not put into the [court-martial] process. I would be surprised to see a great deal of mercy shown for a general shown to be adulterous. Solis disagreed, saying a reprimand and a retirement would be more likely for Allen. Richard Spinner, a veteran military defense lawyer, also said prosecution was "very unlikely" for Allen. "It's not like they're the first generals caught chasing skirts," Spinner said. You have to have an aggravating factor before it becomes court-martial material. Aggravating factors such as those in the case of Brig. Gen. Jeffrey A. Sinclair, currently facing a military grand jury in Fort Bragg, N.C., on 26 charges of forcible sodomy, multiple counts of adultery and having inappropriate relationships with four female subordinates and one civilian. Prosecutors said when subordinates objected to Sinclair's treatment of women, he responded, "I'm a general, I'll do whatever the [expletive] I want." Rather than a court-martial, several experts suggested that reducing a general's rank, even in retirement, is a possible disciplinary step for either Petraeus or Allen. They pointed to the case of Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas J. Fiscus, who was convicted in 2004 of conduct unbecoming an officer and other offenses after engaging in improper relationships with more than a dozen women. He was demoted from a two-star general to a colonel, which was a significant reduction in pay and pension.