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Euclid family frustrated waiting for the exoneration of their father

Posted at 12:07 AM, Mar 22, 2018
and last updated 2018-03-22 17:54:20-04

Editor's note: A factual error in the original video of this story was corrected, and the corrected video was posted on March 22.

Chantel Sailor has lived through a frustrating rollercoaster ride of up and down emotions, as she continues to wait for the release of her father, RuEl Sailor, from a prison cell.

The 17-year-old  Euclid High School senior told News 5 she's had to deal with multiple promises that her father would be exonerated, promises she believes have not been kept.

RuEl Sailor's Attorney Kimberly Kendall Corral, and the Ohio Innocence Project, are now working to prove Sailor was wrongfully convicted in the 2002 murder of Omar Clark.

Sailor has been held in jail for some 15 years for a crime he maintains he didn't commit, sentenced to 25 years to life, even though the family reports court records make it clear, the man who actually pulled the trigger  admitted during sentencing that he killed Clark.

Sailor's family told News 5 multiple appeals, and requests for a new trial were all denied. 

The case now is in the hands of the Cuyahoga County Conviction Integrity Unit.

But the family reports the unit has been working on Sailor's release since 2014, and has left them with a series of unexplained delays.

"It's just like they just keep pushing it back, they keep holding it," said Chantel Sailor.

"They keep making promises.  Oh your father's going to come home by Christmas, so all of us, me and my little sisters are like, finally you're coming home.  Christmas time comes, he's not home"

News 5 contacted the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office about Sailor's release, but we were repeatedly told it could not comment on an on-going case.

Meanwhile Chantel Sailor said she is praying her father will be released in time for her upcoming graduation from Euclid High School in May.

"They're still not doing anything, my father is still in prison," said Sailor. 

"Even though they know that the person who testified against him lied on the stand."