( CNN ) -- The trial of a soldier accused of killing Afghan citizens for sport is scheduled to begin Wednesday at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington . Spc . Jeremy Morlock is charged with three counts of murder . He is accused of killing one Afghan civilian in January 2010 with a grenade and rifle ; killing another in May 2010 in a similar manner ; and shooting a third to death in February 2010 . Morlock is one of two U.S. soldiers who are scheduled to be tried at Joint Base Lewis-McChord . Pfc . Andrew Holmes is also facing charges in the case but a start date for his court martial has not been publicly announced . Both are part of a larger case that involves several other soldiers , all accused of similar killings . In all , officials charged 12 U.S. soldiers in what they called a conspiracy to kill Afghan civilians and cover it up , along with charges they mutilated corpses and kept grisly souvenirs . Five of the soldiers face murder charges , while seven others are charged with participating in a cover-up . Morlock was the first of the five to face an Article 32 hearing , the military equivalent of a grand jury hearing , at Joint Base Lewis-McChord . If convicted , Morlock faces a maximum punishment of imprisonment for life without the possibility of parole , the military said . Holmes is charged with the premeditated deaths of three civilians , possessing a dismembered human finger , wrongfully possessing photographs of human casualties and smoking hashish . He is also accused of conspiring with Morlock to shoot at a civilian and then toss a grenade so it would look like the soldiers were under attack . All of the accused men were members of a 2nd Infantry Division brigade operating near Kandahar in southern Afghanistan in 2009 and 2010 . The three others facing murder charges are Staff Sgt . Calvin Gibbs , of Billings , Montana ; Adam Winfield , of Cape Coral , Florida ; and Spc . Michael Wagnon , of Las Vegas , Nevada . Authorities allege Gibbs kept finger bones , leg bones and a tooth from Afghan corpses . Wagnon allegedly kept a skull from a corpse , according to charging documents . Several soldiers are charged with taking pictures of the corpses , and one soldier is charged with stabbing a corpse . This week , German news outlet Der Spiegel published photographs of what they identified as Morlock and Holmes posing over the bodies of dead Afghan . Two images show the soldiers kneeling by a bloody body sprawled over a patch of sand and grass . A third shows what appears to be two bodies propped up , back to back , against a post in front of a military vehicle . The U.S. Army released a statement Monday calling the photographs `` repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States Army . '' `` We apologize for the distress these photos cause , '' the statement said . Army officials asserted in the statement that ongoing court-martial proceedings related to the alleged atrocities `` speak for themselves . `` The photos appear in stark contrast to the discipline , professionalism and respect that have characterized our soldiers ' performance during nearly 10 years of sustained operations . ''
Spc . Jeremy Smith faces a maximum sentence of life in prison . He is part of a larger case involving several soldiers . They are accused of a conspiracy to kill and cover up , they say . Photos were published of what appears to be soldiers standing over dead Afghan civilians .