The court affirmed the PCR court's denial of defendant's Strickland-based ineffective assistance of counsel claims and concluded: (1) subsections (a) and (b) of N.J.S.A. 2C:24-4(b)(1) do not violate the First Amendment to the United States Constitution because they criminalize the possession and distribution of child pornography and are neither overbroad nor vague. To the extent this conclusion regarding subsections (a) and (b) is contrary to the decision in State v. Higginbotham, 475 N.J. Super. 205 (App. Div. 2023), aff'd in part, rev'd in part, 257 N.J. 260 (2024), the court expressly rejects the holding in Higginbotham; and (2) the State's investigation and subsequent prosecution did not violate the Ex Post Facto Clauses of the United States and New Jersey Constitutions.