Wednesday's hearing will be held at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington.Soldier faces a maximum punishment of more than 27 years imprisonmentSoldier's case is part of larger investigation of 12 soldiers in same Army unitIn June, five other soldiers in the unit where charged with murder(CNN) -- The first court-martial of one of the soldiers connected to a group of soldiers accused of killing Afghan citizens for sport, is scheduled to start Wednesday.
Staff Sgt. Robert G. Stevens is one of seven soldiers "facing charges of serious misconduct while deployed in Afghanistan," the Army said in a statement.
Stevens' charges include conspiracy to commit assault and battery, dereliction of duty, aggravated assault and wrongfully and wantonly engaging in conduct likely to cause death or bodily harm to other soldiers, the Army said.
Stevens is the first of the accused soldiers to face a court-martial and, if found guilty, he faces a maximum punishment of 27 years and six months imprisonment, the Army said.
The Army's investigation also involves five other soldiers who are charged with murder for allegedly killing Afghan citizens.
All 12 soldiers are from the 5th Stryker Brigade, which is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
The alleged killings took place at or near Forward Operating Base Ramrod in southern Afghanistan's volatile Kandahar province.
In June, the five soldiers were charged with murder and are accused of either using a grenade or firearms to kill at least three Afghan civilians.
According to investigative documents made available to CNN, one of the men collected human fingers from the victims they targeted.
Wednesday's court-martial will be at Joint Base Lewis-McChord.
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