As expected, Tamerlan Tsarnaev, Dzhokhar’s older brother, who was killed during the manhunt after the bombings, has become a pivotal figure in the defense’s case. He is buried in a small cemetery in Doswell, Va.

Several days after the bombings, Tamerlan, 26, was shot by the police and then run over with a car driven by Dzhokhar, who was trying to flee.

Weeks later, a region still reeling from the attack was confounded by the question of where to bury Mr. Tsarnaev’s body. It had been accepted by a funeral home in Worcester, Mass., but the home’s owner, Peter A. Stefan, was rebuffed by multiple cemeteries when he approached them about a burial.

“I’m not burying a terrorist; I’m burying a dead body,” Mr. Stefan said at one point, with some frustration.

After six days at the funeral home, Mr. Tsarnaev’s body was moved under cover of night and buried in Al-Barzakh Cemetery, about a half-hour north of Richmond, Va., after a local woman urged religious leaders in the area to find a place for him. A group called Islamic Funeral Services of Virginia offered a spot for Mr. Tsarnaev in one of its cemetery plots.

It came as a surprise to local officials.

“We had no advance notice of the decision and unfortunately learned of the selection of a burial site through the media,” said Charles M. Culley Jr., the administrator for the county where the cemetery is.