Staff Sgt. Robert Bales (L) at the National Training Center in Fort Irwin, California on August 23, 2011.
Staff Sergeant Robert Bales, accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians last year, is scheduled to stand before a military court in the US state of Washington.
On Wednesday, Bales is to appear at the Joint Base Lewis-McChord and is expected to plead guilty in return for escaping the death penalty, AFP reported.
Bales, 39, faces charges including 16 counts of murder, six attempted murder, and seven counts of assault related to the massacre in southern Afghanistan last March.
Of the 22 victims, 17 were women and children. Almost all of the victims were shot in the head.
According to the reports, on May 29, Balesâ„¢ lawyer John Henry Browne said that he had reached a deal with military prosecutors not to seek a death penalty for his client in exchange for his guilty plea.
Following the announcement, the families of the victims voiced their anger, saying that he deserved the death penalty.
Last November, prosecutors called the death penalty for Bales.
Bales has been charged with walking off a US outpost in the Panjwai district of Kandahar province in early morning on March 11, 2012, and shooting or stabbing to death the Afghan civilians.
While the US Army insists that Bales has acted alone, an Afghan fact-finding mission has found that the American trooper was not the only perpetrator of the crime and that up to 20 US soldiers collaborated in the carnage.
SZH/PR
This article originally appeared on: Press TV