well, good news .... and good news pt2!
I was able to get the spare completely off the pin and this gave me 'just enough' room to squeeze in and try a few things (i'm 6' 185 .... not big, but certainly not small ... crushing on the ribs during wrenching)
mopar jack - tried your method first, and I'm sure it would have worked. after using the below method, the raising of the trunk un-froze the mechanism. so if it hadn't been a little rusted shut, this would have been easiest.
anlauto - this was what worked for the most part, only once I had the 2 bolts undone from the mechanism I started lifting the lid and it popped right open. looking at it, i'm pretty sure the mechanism had a little rust lockup
the other good news, is that the key now works to open the trunk, lol. i'll have to replace or rebuild the mechanism though so it never happens again. that was a crazy little adventure for the morning
thanks a ton for all the input and help! (and hopefully this thread will help someone in the future)