The accused killer in a gangland-style attack in Little Italy this week is “just a middle-class kid from Stouffville,” his lawyer says.

His record says otherwise.

Looking clean-cut and confused, Dean Michael Wiwchar, 26, appeared in Old City Hall court Friday morning where he was charged with first-degree murder in the death of 35-year-old John Raposo. A lean 6-foot-5 with close-cropped brown hair, he looked like a skinny collegiate basketball player.

“It’s not like he’s some anonymous hitman flown in from B.C.,” said his lawyer, Christopher Avery. “He comes from a good Stouffville family with firm roots.”

Wiwchar will plead not guilty, Avery said.

Wiwchar’s criminal past belies his appearance. He has served time in a maximum-security prison with a record for violence.

A man with the same name and date of birth is also wanted in B.C. for 11 weapons-related charges including possession of a firearm without a licence and careless use of a firearm. Warrants on the charges were issued Friday.

In 2004, he was charged after police said he was part of a gang involved in a robbery spree that included violent attacks on an Oak Ridges McDonald’s, a Richmond Hill Harvey’s, and several York Region homes. In both robberies, employees were hit with a bat by masked thieves, who fled afterward.

Wiwchar was sentenced to three years in prison for aggravated assault and given a four-year sentence for assault with a weapon, to run concurrently.

British Columbia court records indicate a man with the same name and date of birth was charged and convicted for assaulting a peace officer in prison on three occasions.

Assistant warden Gord Matheson of Kent Institution, a B.C. maximum-security facility, confirmed Wiwchar spent time there. He was released without any additional conditions last June, at the conclusion of his sentence.

He is under a 10-year weapons ban issued in August 2011 after he was convicted in B.C. of uttering death threats.

Wiwchar filed a civil suit claiming damages from a car accident in March 2012, giving his address as a Salvation Army in downtown Vancouver and his occupation simply as “labourer.”

Avery said Wiwchar has a girlfriend in B.C., but is originally from Stouffville.

During Friday’s court appearance, Wiwchar looked out from the prisoner’s dock and saw no relatives.

Wiwchar’s father is a businessman, said Avery, and his mother works in a nursing home. He said Wiwchar was visiting his grandmother at the nursing home the day of his arrest.

Avery said his client is baffled why police might suspect him in the Raposo homicide.

“He committed a crime in the past. He has paid for it and served his time,” said Avery.

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As Wiwchar appeared in court, a funeral was held at St. Mary’s Church on Bathurst St. for Raposo, who was known as “Johnny Maserati.”

Raposo had one child and his wife is pregnant with their second. He was shot in the head at close range in broad daylight while watching the Italy-Ireland soccer match in a crowded outdoor patio at the Sicilian Sidewalk Cafe on College St.

The restaurant reopened Friday.

At the time of his death, Raposo was facing assault charges for allegedly beating up a man during a game of gin rummy gone bad in Mississauga and for dangerous operation of a vehicle.

A police source said Raposo narrowly escaped an attempt on his life five years ago.

As Wiwchar appeared in court, police searched a two-storey brick home on Aintree Dr., in the Westfield Estates subdivision of Stouffville, owned by members of his family.

It’s a well-to-do, quiet residential neighbourhood with well-kept shrubbery and the occasional swimming pool.

Wiwchar was arrested shortly before suppertime on Thursday at Gerrard and Parliament Sts. while he was riding in a cab.

Toronto police Det. Sgt. Terry Browne was in court Friday to watch Wiwchar’s brief appearance. On Thursday night, Browne said Wiwchar became a suspect “probably the moment” the crime was committed.

Wiwchar was remanded in custody until July 27, as his lawyer awaits disclosure of the police case against him.

Related: Victim services deal with aftermath of shootings

With files from Jacques Gallant, Yorkregion.com

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