How to open a car door that lock is stuck?

I have a 2005 Ford Freestyle with a stuck rear passenger door. Knowing that the child lock was set I used a coat hanger to push the child lock back down in order to open the door from the inside thinking that the outside latch wasn't operating properly. Unfortunately the door lock mechanism seems to be the problem as when I operate the lock it doesn't seem to come fully up like on the other side. I pulled the widow seal off of the top so that I could gain access to the outside of the lock assembly and have pulled the lock fully away from the door and the lock still will not disengage. As I can't access the inside of the door from the panel due to screws used along the inside of the door frame which makes to door panels unable to be removed without the door open, I believe my only recourse is to damage the outside of the door to access the lock latch assembly. Does anybody have any additional thoughts before I start cutting away at my door? I did pick up an identical door from the junk yard as I need to get this fixed as soon as possible.

So you managed to flip a small switch on the inside of the door jab but can't pull a lock? And you cot a door from a junkyard to fix said lock. Doesn't feel right here.

If you know a burglar, criminal they will get in in a jiffy. Works every time.

Look at the door on the other side, and see how it works. At least you will be able to figure out what isn't working, and make it work. Working in the dark, and the unknown is impossible.

Thanks, Richard. My first step was to take apart the driver side rear door hoping that would give me some clues as to how the other mechanism worked, but didn't really offer too much info other than the fact that I wouldn't be able to get the door panel off without the door open due to the screw locations. The door panel is covered completely by a steel shroud most likely part of the window regulator that would need to be unscrewed. As I wouldn't be able to get the shroud off the other side I didn't feel it was worth mucking around with it on the drivers side as I wouldn't be able to get that far without the panel off of it.

I was hoping that someone had dealt with something like this before and had a trick to free up the lock latch as that seems to be the problem. I'm not sure how I would be able to get to the door latch without some major damage to the door (which is why I bought the used door). I'm still hesitant to start cutting into the door though as I'm not 100 percent that the latch will be able to be freed.