Three people were sentenced to prison Tuesday for their role in the attempted armed robbery of a Gainesville teen.

Hall County Superior Court Judge C. Andrew Fuller sentenced 20-year-old Quadarius Cooper to eight years in prison; Joseph Harris, 25, also received eight years; and Cecelia Allen 26, received three years.

The three were convicted last month by a jury in the Oct. 16, 2007, attempted armed robbery of an 18-year-old who was on the back stoop of his Summit Street apartment when he had a loaded handgun pointed in his face and was told to “give it up.”

A fourth defendant in the case, Monquis Ware, pleaded guilty last year and also received an eight-year prison sentence.

On Tuesday, the judge heard from numerous character witnesses who testified on Cooper’s behalf.

Fuller said he took their testimony into account, but that all of Cooper’s “good acts were overcome in a blink of an eye by one bad act.”

The defendants also received terms of probation after their prison sentences and are banished from Hall County for the length of their probation.